JFK’s Top Secret Bay of Pigs Letter to Auction
JFK's Bay of Pigs Top Secret letter
Three days after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion collapsed in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy signed a Top Secret letter directing General Maxwell Taylor to review U.S. military and paramilitary operations, with particular attention to the lessons of the failed mission.
This April 22, 1961, directive which established the assignment for what became known as the Cuba Study Group leads RR Auction’s Fine Autographs & Artifacts Featuring John F. Kennedy sale closing November 11.
“It is apparent that we need to take a close look at all our practices and programs in the areas of military and paramilitary, guerrilla and anti-guerrilla activity which fall short of outright war,” Kennedy wrote.
The two-page letter, written on White House letterhead and stamped “Top Secret,” directed Taylor to work with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Admiral Arleigh Burke and CIA Director Allen Dulles. Kennedy also authorized Taylor to obtain government records needed for the investigation. The first page bears a declassification stamp dated 2012.
Also in the sale is a photograph from Kennedy’s inauguration on January 20, 1961, which carries a candid exchange between the President and First Lady. Signed for their cousin Ann Gargan, the image shows the Kennedys and Johnsons watching the inaugural parade.
JFK inscribed the photograph “For Ann - who helped put me up here - with the affectionate best wishes of her cousin, John F. Kennedy.” Jackie added: “For Ann who helped put me up here too and I'm not so sure it was a good idea, Much love, Jackie.”
Gargan, a first cousin of the president, remained closely connected to the Kennedy family and later helped care for Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. following his 1961 stroke.
Beyond the Kennedy material, the auction features letters by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, along with a scarce Force print of the Declaration of Independence. Other highlights include a letter by Marie Antoinette from the period of the French Revolution, a rare handwritten letter by physicist Stephen Hawking, and a stock certificate bearing three signatures of John D. Rockefeller.
