There are several aspects of the cognitive approach that can be analyzed in the context of the Bay of Pigs intervention. I will first highlight some of the events leading up to the decision to intervene, then I will examine the particular aspects of the debates that led to the failure of the invasion and the capture of the U.S. forces.
In the 1950s, Cuba was a popular tourist and business destination for Americans. The U.S. had a strong trade relationship with Cuba, especially regarding the importing of sugar, which was their dominant crop, and the exporting of U.S. goods to Cuba (Alvarez, 2004). Then in 1959, Fidel Castro took control of the country and forced the prior leadership into exile (National Security Archive). In the beginning of …show more content…
Part of this success could be due to President Kennedy’s alterations to the decision making process after the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion. He ordered a review of the mission and why it failed, which resulted in four fundamental changes (Hansen, 2013). First, each person should focus on the problem in general rather than approaching it from a certain department’s standpoint. Next, the group should use informal settings with no agenda in order to avoid feeling constrained. Then, the group should break into sub-groups to work on alternatives before reconvening as a whole. Finally, the group should meet occasionally without the president in order to avoid people saying what they believe he would want (Hansen, …show more content…
The disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion and its fallout led to Kennedy reevaluating the process by which executive policy is determined, which led to the success of the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I have argued here that Kennedy and his advisors were victims of cognitive bias and groupthink, which resulted in the poor planning and ultimate failure of one of his first decisions as president. Despite this, Kennedy was able to return from his mistakes by implementing controls over the cognitive bias in his advising. These controls are still used today in both politics and business models because of their
In the 1950s, Cuba was a popular tourist and business destination for Americans. The U.S. had a strong trade relationship with Cuba, especially regarding the importing of sugar, which was their dominant crop, and the exporting of U.S. goods to Cuba (Alvarez, 2004). Then in 1959, Fidel Castro took control of the country and forced the prior leadership into exile (National Security Archive). In the beginning of …show more content…
Part of this success could be due to President Kennedy’s alterations to the decision making process after the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion. He ordered a review of the mission and why it failed, which resulted in four fundamental changes (Hansen, 2013). First, each person should focus on the problem in general rather than approaching it from a certain department’s standpoint. Next, the group should use informal settings with no agenda in order to avoid feeling constrained. Then, the group should break into sub-groups to work on alternatives before reconvening as a whole. Finally, the group should meet occasionally without the president in order to avoid people saying what they believe he would want (Hansen, …show more content…
The disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion and its fallout led to Kennedy reevaluating the process by which executive policy is determined, which led to the success of the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I have argued here that Kennedy and his advisors were victims of cognitive bias and groupthink, which resulted in the poor planning and ultimate failure of one of his first decisions as president. Despite this, Kennedy was able to return from his mistakes by implementing controls over the cognitive bias in his advising. These controls are still used today in both politics and business models because of their