The 21st century has become an ongoing repository of declassified documents from the 1960s. Among them: a reminder of exactly what President John F. Kennedy faced with the militant Cold Warriors he inherited at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That was especially so with its chairman, General Lyman Lemnitzer, who missed Eisenhower, had no respect for the civilians he reported to and wanted desperately to invade Cuba. He and the JCS even proposed “Operation Northwoods,” lethal pretext scenarios aimed at discrediting the Castro regime and giving the U.S. cover to put boots on Cuban ground.
Here’s part of an April 1962 memo Gen. Lemnitzer sent to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara:
“The Joint Chiefs of Staff believe that the Cuban problem must be solved in the near future. Further, they see no prospect of early success in overthrowing the present communist regime either as a result of internal uprising or external political, economic or psychological pressures. Accordingly, they believe that military intervention by the United States will be required to overthrow the present communist regime. … They also believe that the intervention can be accomplished rapidly enough to minimize communist opportunities for solicitation of UN action.”
Within months, Lemnitzer had lost his JCS chairmanship and was re-assigned to NATO in Europe. He was replaced by Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor.