globalization, a hedging your news work after september 11, some of the most beautiful riding. steve lopez has a series of columns that ended up in the movie the soloist. he writes for the l.a. times now. a classic example of the reported column in during. >> here is the cover of the book. it is called "deadline artists." our next call comes from right here in florida. david can help south florida. >> you got it right this time. if you. >> i wanted to say that i became interested in columnists by reading the old new york post's of the 1950's and '60's. you had some great ones there. mary captain, human justin. langston hughes. langston hughes wrote a column for the new york post, and i learned quite a bit about the black community from that column.

you are right. the new york post, i think, went down because it was columnist heavy. i don't think that even the fortune could sustain it. we lost a lot when it finally -- excuse me, james wechsler failed to get in. i am not a liberal anymore. nonetheless. i have to say that from those people i learned quite a bit about the various communities in new york city. i am grateful to them. >> thank you. thank you, david. you know, the new york post and an unbelievable roster. very tempted, pete hamill who is here today, and so many others. the "herald" tribune was as celebrated paper. and one of the things this book exams, a lot of uncovered columnists who are unjustly

forgotten today, the earthly compton, an early warner about the rise of hitler, railing against hitler. you had a word bruin, a beautiful writer who -- and west but rather. you know, these papers really did put forth rosters like murderers row. they put forward their columnists like the part of a ballclub. there were the home run hitters and it was a lee referred to it that way. a citizen kane, he hires the opposing papers great columnist to compete. that is what people look for, the personality and soul of the paper, and these were literary journalist which provides a lot of the value. >> could a columnist to the president on the phone? >> yes. yes. certainly, you mentioned walter lippmann, james reston, enormously respected. a great column of touring in dixie with lbj worry talks about jobs and selling civil rights.

across the appellations like andy jackson in the jetliner, great of vivid writing. in no, molly ivins, i don't know if she could get a presence on the phone, but that tradition of the disease and for politics. and, again, her rage was remarkable. one of the things we try to do politics, it is a civic conversation commander try to make sure folks from left, right, and center were all represented. he would burn the stage coming can give the idea of being -- one thing i think we aren't losing is you get polemist, people preaching to their prospective acquirers. the great calmness appreciate them even if you don't agree with their politics because you're preceded the eloquence of their argument. that is still pulled a chair with people like peggy noonan. it was definitely true with buckley and others. the constructive contribution. >> i did not see paul krugman and their. >> well, you can have everyone. we had to cut the book and have,

in fact. there were judgment calls the contemporary colonists wanted to be leaner on because we wanted this to be a tribute to the greatest. the vast majority you can't find online, and that was one of the things that spurred us to put this together. with a book like this would exist, and there have been efforts at doing compilations, but nothing in our sense was this comprehensive and organized that is why we put this together. these things armillary on microfilm, lost and libraries, and for governments to do our research online, you can fall into this low that history began around 1996. some rates are available, but many are not. and that is of the urgency of putting this together. beginning at appreciation. all of jimmy residence books should be in print. we want to start an appreciation for this american art form. >> scott in new york. good afternoon.

>> yes, you just mentioned jimmy breslin who is, he has always been a good hero to me and is one of my favorite columnists. my other, a couple of my other favorites are bob herbert and jim dwyer from the new york times. one thing that the three of them have in common, they all did a great job of documenting the racism of bob grant, the radio host in new york city on w abc. i think he is still on there. they wrote many times about the connections between bob grant and rudolph guiliani who used to work for. they wrote about how racist guliani was whenever condemning -- >> hold on. wait a minute. wait. perry quickly. >> he was a filthy, felt the greatest. why did you never get guliani to try to disassociate himself from bob grant used to, and luther. >> thank you very much. but the point.

>> first of all, bob grant has his own zip code. resiliency had nothing to do with them. i'm offended that this person would throw a round or like racism and apply it ignorantly to reach guliani. people can have this agreement. we do have disagreements that demonize each other, and i think that colored did just that. you mentioned bob herbert, a great columnist. and we saw, but the question, the right column. and he said that has been one of his favorites. i want to give back to of one of what the previous caller mentioned, langston hughes recalled for two decades for the chicago defender. one of the great things about this book was not just the great calmness of the past who were in danger of being forgotten, but american figures before the became novelists or playwrights, likes to use, of henry, hunter s. thompson pete dexter.

an unbelievably great columnist. so, and even forced and wells, the director, wrote a syndicated column for a time. woody guthrie. the protest singer. so part of it is rediscovering these personalities. there were all part of this fiber american conversation. >> last call for our guest, john avlon, comes from larry in newport beach california. >> hello. i was just wondering if jim murray is included in the -- and the contents of the book? >> who was that, jim murray? >> yes, jim murray. >> jim murray, l.a. times. >> absolutely. i'm glad you brought jim murray up because we have not spoken a lot of sports columnists or humor columnist. they are two of the great john rest. humor columns were the earliest of column. there were side by side with the editorial. and it is a tradition that we

have sort of lost. you go back to mark twain, dave barry being a master of the forum here at miami when he was writing for the "herald," people like russell baker. these are enormous. the great thing about humor columnist, is what we learned from john stuart and steven colbert today. sometimes satire is the best way to tell the truth. the master the art of the lead. heat go back and read, breath smith on bobby thomson, shirley povich, the luckiest man in the world, jim murray and the l.a. times. so many others, great sports columnists really capturing the floor and it is one of the best. >> "deadline artists" is published by overlook press. what is the picture on the front? >> an old school man and a typewriter smoking a cigarette. we wanted to go for -- this is all about classic americana, a

lost art. >> was this supposed? >> no. no. it was a cover designer did it. we want this to be the book. their mind's eye and other classic, independent reporter, a literary private eye working on their own, evoking a classic americana, something that endorsed today, that spirit, that is what we want to move forward. it is a cellist our generation to up our game. we learn about the past. jazz musicians listen to the musicians of the past. that is in one way this book is. we want to pay tribute to the best of the past and to a challenge, for us going for to keep that spirit as a reported, live. >> you will be joining a couple of columnists up in chapman hall here at miami-dade college. it will be on the panel? >> pete hamill and mike particle , to really have a great classic deadline. the conversation a deadline writing.

>> and that will be live on booktv.org. you can watch the live web cast online, booktv.org. and that is in about 50 minutes or so you will be about the ones that. john avlon, they do for joining us. >> inky very much. >> well, we have one more call in segment coming up, and that is this book, jim rasenberger "the billiant disaster" to all about the bay of pigs coming up in just a minute. now mr. rasenberger recently appeared on book tv to talk about his book, the bay of pigs. we will show you a segment of that and then we will be back to talk with mr. rasenberger. >> go into any detail, i should probably give a brief overview of what the bay of pigs was for those of you who don't know. i am -- i suspect anyone my age or older, i was born just after the bay of pigs, pretty familiar with the simply because we grew up hearing about it. those of you who are younger are

forgiven. you're not forgiven for being an air. there is no forgiveness for that, but you are forgiven for not knowing much about something that happened before you're born so for the sake of those not familiar let me go through a brief overview of the few basic facts. the bay of pigs was a 5-day event that occurred in april of 1961. for those of you, i think that is just after season one of bad and if that helps our in you, that april a group of cuban exiles trained, supply, and backed by the united states government attempted to invade cuba and overthrow fidel castro. the attack began on april 15th , 1961, when a fleet of 8b- ♪ bombers flown by cuban exile pilots attacked castro's airfield. these planes bombed the

airfields' intended to destroy fidel castro's air force. two days later, just after midnight of april 17th the invasion itself began. about 1400 men, again, cuban exiles, not collectively as brigade 2506 came ashore at the southern coast of cuba in an area called the bay of pigs. the plan was to establish and hold a beachhead and eventually spark an uprising against fidel castro. that was the plan, but it did not work out the way. the breed ran into trouble almost immediately . within two days of landing it was over. of the 1400 men who came ashore, over 100 were killed, and the rest were sent fleeing other to see, some tried to escape in boats, or into the swamps. invest everglade just an land of the bay of pigs. and there there were rounded up by castro's soldiers and thrown

into cuban jails. well, for fidel castro who looked like the david who slayed the yankee go live to of this was a supreme victory. it is still a victory that cubans celebrate today. i was in cuba, it is remarkable how around havana and the bay of pigs and our build large all over the place celebrating the victory against yankee imperialism. this 50th anniversary there will mark with a parade, all sorts of celebrations. i'm not expecting too many celebrations here. that is, of course for the united states it was a disaster. it was a personal tragedy for the men who took part in the invasion, and it was a humiliation for the kennedy administration, which had only been in power less than three months. at first the administration

tried to insist that the united states had nothing to do with this, and it was just the exiles had gone in on their own, but that charade did not last long. very soon the world to the truth , which was that the brigade had been trained by the cia, supplied with american equipment, and the invasion had been approved by the joint chiefs of staff, the state department, and ultimately the president of the united states in short, this had been a united states operation, and its failure was a distinctly american embarrassment. one american general said it was the worst defeat the u.s. had suffered since the war of a c-span. that was about the kindest thing anybody said. everyone agreed that it was a mistake that they would never forget and they must never repeat. but there were wrong. not only is it was a forgotten if not here, but much of america this the same mistake in letting

cuba. pat, the bay of pigs turned out to be sort of a curtain raiser on a whole new era of troubled interventions. we're still in today. one of the united states in days and no fewer than two dozen forceful interventions after 1961. that is not including our 21st century entanglements and a rock in afghanistan and libya. given all these other interventions since the bay of pigs, you may be asking yourself, why should we still care about the bay of pigs? next to vietnam it seems like a fairly minor event, perhaps, an appetizer before this huge feast of trouble and intervention. and add to this fact that it lasted just five days and cost a mere $46 million, that is about, i think, less than the average budget of a hollywood movie these days. and then, of course, the fact that it was an embarrassment and has everything to recommend it

for oblivion. here is the thing. they changed this country in some very important ways. it changed server americans the way they looked at the government and the rest of the world looked at us. prior to the bay of pigs it would have been a cynical american who doubted that he lived in a good and mighty nation led by competent men engaged in were the exploits. that was certainly possible view for americans 50 years ago. the bay of pigs made that you a lot harder to hold onto. it had the distinction of making the united states look both boon and week. this is what kennedy aide arthur schlesinger wrote in his journal shortly after, we not only look like imperialists, we look like and effectual imperialists, which is worse. and we look like stupid ineffectual and imperials works is worse than all. and we were listening to jim rice and birder talk about his

book, but the disaster. now joining us here in miami is jim rasenberger . what role did miami play? >> center stage. it is where the cia came to recruit cuban exiles who eventually participated in the invasion of cuba. after castro came into power many of the people did not like him very much, they fled cuba. where they fled was mainly right here in miami. miami was not just before the bay of pigs, but even after, operation mongoose was centered out of miami. in fact and i believe at one point the station in miami was the largest cia station in the world. >> what was operation mongoose? >> a covert operation that

occurred after the bay of pigs failed, and the kennedy administration, rather than back off from trying to get castro out redoubled its efforts and initiated this entirely new operation. it was in some ways even crazier than the bay of pigs. >> jim rasenberger, why were we so intent? castro took power in 1959. >> january 1st, 1959. >> are we so intent on getting rid of them? >> one word, communism. understand the bay of pigs you really have to appreciate how concerned, afraid americans were about the spread of communism in the 50's in the early 60's. and it may seem a little overwrought by our standards today, but if you go back in years before castro came into power, china had gone to the prime minister in 1949. the soviets exploded the first atomic bomb.

and then you had sputnik. you had this series of events that made it look as if the communists were taking over. so therefore the idea of having a communist dictator in place 90 miles from american shores was seen to be as something that was intolerable not just to people on the right, but relief to everybody. >> on the cover of your book, big pictures of jfk and castro, but if we can get into it here, you have five people stripped across. you have eisenhower, and robert kennedy. liberals to the plate? >> the operation began with eisenhower. the bay of pigs is a kennedy fiasco. kennedy only live with it for three months. three months into is that the restoration. eisenhower was and control the operation for years. he had more to do with the development of the operation and kennedy did.

robert kennedy did not play that much of our role when the bay of pigs first came up when kennedy came into power, but in the days before the invasion he became involved, and as it started to fall apart he came in by his brother's side, and this was really the beginning of what became a partner ship presidency between john kennedy and robert kennedy. john kennedy realized after words, after the bay of pigs, that he really needed his brother's advice, very close to him. and he played a much more important role in the white house after that. >> shaken vera. >> of course castro's right hand man. he was one of the people that just drove the eisenhower and kennedy administration that's. they had also planned to how assassinate fidel castro, with it wanted to get him in there as well. assassinate him and role as

well. sort of this great triumvirate of communists. the famous photograph, and i'm sure a lot of you viewers know was taken. >> there is right there. >> that was march 5th 1950 on the lead up when a ship exploded in havana harbor. the cuban believe that the americans did this. an act of terrorism. he was marching, castro and others. and this was when things really started said turn sour between cuba and the united states. >> jim rasenberger is our guest, the topic the bay of pigs invasion and our twitter address, @booktv,

twitter.com/booktv. in retrospect knowing what we know, was it a good plan gone bad or was it doom from the start? >> well, in the short term it probably was not as stupid as many people think it was. you have to understand what the plan was. it wasn't that these 1500 men that landed in cuba were supposed to of somehow take over all of cuba and the feet castro's army of 25 to 30,000. with them to do is establish a beachhead and hold the beachhead for the week to ten days. then hope things happened after that. a provisional government assembled in miami. it would come in and declare themselves a rightful leaders of cuba. they would invite the united states to come and. this sort of overt way, cause i illegally. it was also hope that there would be uprisings within cuba after the fact.

>> edward in birmingham alabama, good afternoon. you're talking with author jim rasenberger. >> good afternoon, fellas. it is, indeed, my pleasure to be able to talk to mr. rasenberger. i just got back from cuba. i am a historian and i'm actually writing a thesis on this subject and how the u.s. contributed to making cuba communist. can you hear me? >> yes, we can. >> real listening. >> just want to be sure unconnected. i would like mr. rasenberger comment on how -- what the -- have not seen it mentioned yet how the 1954 successful cia sort of almost arrogant cia overthrow of the government in guatemala, the same actors were involved in

the bay of pigs, how that contributed, that momentum give impetus to or sort of a hubris that they could easily pull off an operation like that because my research shows that these are the folks that began it. and then the other thing, and i will hang up. it is maybe a comment or to, this embargo, it currently exists, being put to an end in these two nations reaching some reproached. >> at work, we would get an answer to those questions. again, though, why were you in cuba? >> i was in cuba because i was an academic, licensed, if you will and as is the study for their research paper that i am writing, supported by my

university, and i was there legally. >> what are your impressions? , what were your impressions? >> my impressions are is a very poor country. the cuban people love the american people, but they hate, this is a generalization, but a lot of them did not like the american government. they make that distinction, but it is a great country, but it is very, very poor there. they could benefit by having us embargo and some meeting of the mines. it may not occur until after fidel dies, but i would like to, i would really like to hear what mr. rasenberger has to say about that. >> thank you. beck's -- mr. rasenberger. >> i agree with your description of president cuba, first of all, and i also agree with what you're saying about the 1954 operation in guatemala. no question that that involves the cia and the eisenhower

administration would think that they could pull something like that of again in cuba. and it was the same players. the deputy director of operations for the cia oversaw the bay of pigs. that was really his first operation. tracy barnes was his right-hand man. really, all the players put together the cuba plan were veterans of guatemala. so the year before would appear to be successful, and iran by the cia. so in retrospect it really did not work out all that well, but it appeared that it was relatively easy to stage these operations and throughout governments. it turned out not to be the case. custer was a very different and all the and the guatemalan government and was very difficult, very popular, he had a strong army.

a completely different set of circumstances, and a big mistake. to go back, as part of the embargo, i have been. the embargo does seem to be cruel and unnecessary. hard to see what anybody gets out of it. >> chris and new haven, connecticut. we are talking with jim rasenberger about his book, "the billiant disaster". a way it. >> yes, you mentioned a couple of names. it seems to me to normally the cia, these -- neither confirm or deny participations. you keep these names, but it seems to be the case officer who actually was in charge of the operation, but the people up atop who is able to screwed up. i think that it seems to me watching people's careers that there was a case officer down there who saw it to his advantage to help scuttle a

democratic administration and that that is what really happened there. it was a poorly operated plan, and it does not seem as if it was -- that it was just a bad plan, but it works to the advantage of that case officer, and i think he ended up being president. i think his son ended up being prison after him. thanks a lot. have a good day. >> the fact of the operation really came out of the white house. it was something that president eisenhower wanted to do. he wanted to estragon. the cia did not invent this operation. and when it did go to the cia it was richard bissell who was the deputy director of plans. third in command. he ran the operation and had a number of men under him who were

very involved in it. it was, it was always directed in the end by the white house. the white house knew what was going on. the white house was behind what happened. >> jim rasenberger, if i'd had formed the plan originally, did jfk come in, was the of the same it is yes of a plan? >> she was not enthusiastic. but he had run for president by beating the eyes of our administration over the head with castro particularly in the fall is before the election he realizes was a winner it did not like having a communist dictator 90 miles from american soil, and the beat of eisenhower and nixon but this. so then he came into office and is handed this plan. he knows there are problems, but he also knows it is difficult

for him not to go forward because he would look hypocritical and even worse, he would look soft on communism, and he cannot afford that. he found himself between a rock and a hard place. he knew there were problems, but he did not know how to back out of it. >> was vice president johnson aware of what was going on, the planning of the bay of pigs? >> the was. he was not very active. he was in on meetings, but his voice fell. there were other voices that you hear, the national security advisor played a large role. robert mcnamara, the secretary of defense, and certainly the secretary of state. this whole stable, they were all quite involved. >> bruce in daytona, florida. good afternoon. >> am i hearing the same, was this also called the cuban

missile crisis? >> no. >> it was not? >> no. the cuban missile crisis came 18 months after, and it was -- this was an invasion of cuba that in many ways led to the cuban missile crisis because castro, after the bay of pigs, obviously knew that the united states government was trying to get him out of power. and the soviets did, too. as i mentioned before, operation mongoose, the kennedy administration continues to try to get castro out of power, and he felt he needed protection. the soviets agreed, and that is probably what led to these missiles being put in cuba, and the cuban missile crisis in october of the following year. >> jim rasenberger come in your research on "the billiant disaster", how much time did you spend in cuba, and whom were you able to talk with? >> i did not spend a lot of time there. i went on the fourth night

anniversary of the bay of pigs invasion. my main invasion -- my main interest in going was to get to the bay of pigs, seeded beach, get a feel for the lay of the land, and it was not until i went there that i understood how the whole lending worked and how these men were defeated. it was really kind of extraordinary. it is pretty much the same as it was back then. >> undeveloped, wild? >> not undeveloped. castro was putting a resort for foreign tourists, and that is were arrested when i went there. but it is a lot of little hats and around this main building. >> nice beach. >> beautiful beach. one thing you notice when you're on the beach is that there is coral in the water. this became a big problem when they tried to do this landing because the landing ships brushed up against this coral, and it got a the bottom of some of these boats. it took much longer than the cia anticipated. they think how did not know

there was coral there? they have photographs from its buy airplanes. they thought it was clouds there were seeing in the water. it turned out to the coral, and it was pretty disastrous. >> next call for jim rasenberger on the bay of pigs invasion comes from howard, jacksonville, florida. >> hello. >> jim rasenberger. this is the jackson race. i was wondering if you did in the investigation into the training of the soldiers up in north carolina, that is the cuban exiles that were actually trained and the brigade that was trained in north carolina? the reason is that a lot of the documents are still available of the training of the brigade and when their sense was of the mission. >> yes. well, early on there was training in a lot of places. there was trading in louisiana,

training in florida, trading at an american base at panama canal this rather quickly was consolidated to the mountains of guatemala. that is where these guys really, the main thing really occurred. the cia and the government, the state department particularly wanted to get these guys out of the united states as quickly as possible. the last thing they wanted was the documents you are talking about, getting them in some these hands improving to castro and others that the united states given was behind the whole operation. so, it, it was raised relief of up to five fairly small operation in the united states spread all around. rather quickly it was moved in this summer and fall of 1960 to guava mall. that is where most of it occurred. >> the next call comes from maria right here in miami.

>> i am calling you about your research, did you find any type of information that shows why the united states, even though wanted given as to liberate ourselves, why now we can't go back? i've wondered if you found that out in your research anywhere. >> why the united states has not held the cubans, is that? >> yes. >> well, i think what the caller is referring to is a canceled airstrike that occurred on april april 16th. i should explain. on april 15 there was a preliminary air strike that was meant to take of fidel castro's air pours. everybody understood that this invasion, casters therefore set to be destroyed. well, this is a strike occurred and destroyed about half of his air force, and it was supposed to have a follow-up airstrike on

the morning of april 17th. coincidental with the invasion, the landing of the soldiers. john kennedy canceled that, the previous evening because the first air strike had stirred up so much tension in the united nations and around the world that he was concerned that this was, he was getting too much attention. he canceled the airstrike. what this meant was that castro had about six airplanes left. these airplanes proved absolutely disastrous. as soon as the invasion landed they came in and they sank to of the supply ships. the other four supply ships took off, so the brigade was left there was no ammunition, no medical supplies, no food, and really was no chance whatsoever. and the man on the beach started begging for help, her support.

they knew that there was a u.s. aircraft carrier right over the horizon, the u.s. as that at 8-4 sky hawk jets on it. all it took was a few of these to come in and say the day. the ca commanders who in turn bags john kennedy to run these these. kennedy refused. the brigade was just pummeled. now, the reason when you speak, part of this invasion, family members, many remain very angry at john kennedy for doing this. you have to be somewhat sympathetic to his point of view which was if he did send them an american aircraft to participate , he was turning it into an overt american operation, and once he did that he was opening the door to all sorts of escalating tensions with the soviet union.

that was a great concern that he had, that he might spark a nuclear war. this was always a concern that both kennedy and eisenhower operated under, that if any of the wrong move provoked the soviet union too far that it could end very badly. >> jim rasenberger, how many people were involved in this operation on the ground, how many people were killed? >> 1400 men planted, and in addition to that there was a smaller force. 16b-26 bombers and some transport plans as well. at the most total a few thousand men. the actual men who saw combat, around 1500. >> how many of the cuban pilots still live here in miami, do you know? >> many of them. this is really where -- i should not say many, because there were not that many to begin with, and the number of them died during the operation. the bay of pigs organization

here that is made up of members who participated in the bay of pigs invasion, but brigade and pilot members. they have a museum here in miami which is very interesting. and then meet frequently and they have very interesting to talk to because they remember it all very vividly. i mean, it is really still living history to them. >> charles in washington, d.c. good afternoon. >> thank you. thank you. begin to address the issue of how could it be changed. the very misleading to suggest that this was eisenhower's plan. he had a plan, but kennedy changed it with the landing, as you talked about. pulled his punches on air cover. the amount of force that eisenhower might have used would have been substantially greater, and he was an experienced military man. this just revealed kennedy's inexperienced, and i think it is

misleading to suggest that somehow this was even eisenhower's plan that was finally executed because there's a lot of research and says he changed the landing place, fail to provide the cover, and reduce the amount of people that would be there. so kennedy takes responsibility. ami, it is misleading. >> well, he did not reduce the number of people that would be there because under eisenhower that number fluctuated quite a bit. it is true that the plan changed, and this is really two days after the invasion on apple trees second. kennedy invited as hard to camp david, and he was hoping for some presidential solace. but he took into the woodshed. he said basically what you're saying now which is if i had done this i would have seen it through. once you put american prestige on the line you can't pull back. eisenhower also disputed later that he actually had a plan and said what we had was a program

and not a plan. as if that term at a very much. in fact, he really did get this thing going. you know, the plan that eisenhower changed quite a bit, it is impossible for any of us to say what eisenhower ultimately would have done. i don't think it is valley that simple to say that eisenhower would have done what he told kennedy would have done which is falling over military force. eisenhower was as concerned about starting a war with the soviet union's. very wise to the fears of the possibility that terrible things could be provoked. i am not sure that eisenhower -- i'm not sure what eisenhower would have done. it would be interesting to say, but we don't really know. i'll leave it with that. >> this is the cover of the book, jim rasenberger. our next call comes from stephen.

>> hello. among the cuban exiles being trained by the cia, did you come across two brothers who were hoping to set themselves up as leaders of the new cuba and effectively turning an entire american dictatorship into a pro american dictatorship? that's all. >> there were a number of people in the cuban exile community. a group that the cia put together here in miami, there was a guy named art to may who went with them and was one potential leader of the new cuba what they try to do was put the other coalition of people from the left and right. i think it probably would have happened, had the invasion actually succeeded, you would have ended up with a whole sort of nightmare and the different

factions of this coalition flight out to see who would take a pro player. it was not clear how this to play out. it would have been one of the problems of the invasion succeeded. >> jim rasenberger, where was a former president battista at this time? where did he live out his life? >> the dominican republic and live out his life. he was far gone. he took off on new year's eve of 1959. >> did he take the treasury? >> not clear exactly. he took quite a bit with him. still dressed in black tie from new year's eve event. it got planes for his family and got out quickly. the first confirmed cia

intelligence was a guy named david phillips. the cia, who was in havana at the time and was lining his backyard after midnight on a lawn chair looking up and saw planes taking off. he thought, well, that must be pretty steadily because boys don't take off from havana airport in the middle of the night, and it did not then. so he was gone after that. >> was there a chance of him ever coming back as president? which nobody wanted battista back. nobody in cuba wanted him back. the americans didn't. that was one thing everyone could agree on. a bad guy and better gone. >> red house west virginia. you are on book tv with jim rasenberger and the topic is jfk >> i am enjoying watching your show here, sir. but at the time before the bay of pigs i was living in orlando