Cuba Nostalgia, the Bay of Pigs, and History

Having just discovered Cuba Nostlagia this year, I found it a moving experience all around, but I was most affected when I passed by a booth devoted to a proposed Bay of Pigs museum. "Yes," I said to myself, with a militancy I didn't know I possessed. Quickly, I donated, signed up for their mailing list, and noticed that Fanjul family was one of their sponsors. Since then, I've eschewed the Publix brand for Dixie Crystals, whatever the price difference.

I found out about the Bay of Pigs years after it took place. My father had an employee who wore fatigues and carried a machete in the factory. Although he was a nice enough guy, I overheard the adults saying that he had been at the Bay of Pigs and had never been the same since getting out of Castro's prison. Afterward, I asked my mother what that meant.
She told me that a group of Cubans had gotten together to liberate their country with the backing of the United States. They landed on the beaches, facing the might of Castro's army which was waiting for them. But the promised air support never came. Imagine D-Day without bombing. At the very last minute, after the invasion had been launched, according to the exile grapevine, Robert Kennedy had convinced his brother the President to pull the air support. That's why, she said, he ransomed the survivors.

As I grew up, I learned to question the exile view. Face it, they were a little crazy on the subject. In a college political science class, I decided to do my paper on the Bay of Pigs. I did my research on the Barnard and Columbia campuses. Reputable history book after history book said basically that the air support never came because in essence the two parts of the operation hadn't synchronized their watches.

You can imagine my shock then when years later, I was watching a PBS special on the CIA and found out that Kennedy had in fact pulled the air support. One old CIA operative described his last communication with the leader of the expedition, who hip deep in water, cursed the treachery of the Americans. I don't know if RFK played any part, but I do know that the truth is not always in history books.

Anyway, this all came up because I was reading Babalublog.com and came across a link to Humberto Fontova's IBD interview. From there I began reading some of his articles and came across one on the Bay of Pigs. It's a must read. It moved me to tears.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/4/17/101921.shtml