UA Historian Awarded Grant to Complete Bay of Pigs Book

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A University of Alabama history professor who is an expert on the John F. Kennedy administration has been awarded a one-year $30,000 grant to assist in the completion of his book on the Bay of Pigs.

The Earhart Foundation in Ann Arbor, Mich., awarded the grant to Dr. Howard Jones, University Research Professor in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, to complete his book on the JFK administration, the Bay of Pigs and the April 17, 1961 attempt to overthrow Cuban ruler Fidel Castro.

Jones is under contract with Oxford University Press in New York to produce a book-length manuscript on the topic for its “Pivotal Moments in American History” series. In “One Day in April: John F. Kennedy, The Bay of Pigs, and the Attempt to Overthrow Castro,” Jones will detail the failed attempt by Cuban exiles, armed by the CIA and trained by U.S. military experts, to overthrow the leader and win a battle against Communism. He’ll also write of the impact the event had on the administration and how Kennedy’s approach to battling communism changed in the final portion of his short term.

“In particular, the Kennedy administration became involved in an ongoing clandestine operation begun in the Eisenhower years that linked the CIA and the Mafia in several bizarre attempts to assassinate Castro,” Jones said.

“Everything went wrong,” Jones has written about the fateful April day. “No general uprising took place in support of the invasion, and Castro’s tanks and soldiers stormed the small attack force as it hit the beaches, killing 300 and capturing the remainder. The episode dealt a staggering blow to the fledgling Kennedy administration that greatly shaped its reaction to international events throughout most of the president’s abbreviated term in office.”

Some two years later, Kennedy’s attitude toward both Cuba and military action, as a way of stamping out Communism, had shifted dramatically, Jones said. “Recent revelations show that, as part of a broad effort, he secretly worked toward an accommodation with Cuba and approved a plan to withdraw all special military forces from Vietnam.”

Jones expects the book to be completed by fall 2007.

Choice magazine named one of Jones’ earlier books, “Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War” one of its “Outstanding Academic Titles” of 2003.

Jones joined UA’s history department in 1974. He authored “Mutiny on the Amistad,” a 1987 book which received wide critical acclaim. He was a special consultant on Steven Spielberg’s movie production of “Amistad.”

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,500 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students. The College has received national recognition for academic excellence, and the College’s students have been selected for many of the nation’s top academic honors, including 13 Rhodes Scholarships, 15 Goldwater Scholarships, seven Truman Scholarships, one Udall Scholarship and 16 memberships on USA Today’s Academic All-American teams.