I have spoken to Sailors on Navy ships which were supposed to provide fire support and other support. They have told me they were ordered to "stand down" and they listened in despair to the radio broadcasts from the Cubans pleading for help while they were getting destroyed by Castro's Airforce and artillery.
Kennedy should have been impeached for that horrible thing he did.
I have long wondered if his assassination was Karma for what he did.
Except the record is 100% clear that JFK told the CIA in advance, unequivocally, that it would not be a US military intervention. They thought they could roll him by backing him into a corner. Their smug cynical plan was to put a small unit on a beach knowing they would quickly be in trouble and that Kennedy would be forced to play ball.
Kennedy did not “pull” air support because it was never on the table with him.
As for the karma I suppose you could call the CIA getting him assassinated for not letting them set policy is karma.
Bad for those guys who landed, and I have no doubt they were told by the CIA that the US military was going to be in full support. They were lied to by CIA.
And these were not amateurs, there was plenty of WWII experience from 15 years earlier out there. Nobody seriously believed a light infantry battalion dropped on a beach would prevail alone. But that’s what they told those Cubes and JFK.
There can be an honest debate about whether or not he should have offered support when it was being planned... or maybe have canceled the whole thing. HE had WWII experience also and knew the plan would never work without US invading. But we shouldn’t pretend that he promised support and then didn’t deliver.