◆ SpookStack

modifications to the operational plans made by the White House or its staff might have had any negative effect on the outcome of the invasion. Intimations to this effect made by military or CIA witnesses were immediately cried down or cavalierly dismissed as irrelevant by Robert Kennedy. With the conclusion of the Taylor investigation, there was a period of mistrust of both CIA and the JCS by the new President; and he turned to his inner circle for guidance which previously would have been sought from the Agency or the De- partment of Defense. General Taylor performed in such acceptable fashion that he was recalled to active duty and into the elite inner circle to become president Kennedy's military adviser and subsequently Chairman of the JCS. It was in this atmosphere of doubt and questioning of the old administration's experts and tolerance for witnesses of the new that the Taylor Committee would be pushed to reach its conclusions as quickly as possible. After his mea culpa and acceptance of responsibility for the operation, the President and his less than squeaky clean coterie escaped all blame for the invasion's failure; but CIA has continued to bear the full brunt of responsibility for the "fiasco" at the Bay of Pigs. This volume presents the first and only detailed examina- tion of the work. of, and findings of, the Taylor Committee to be based on the complete record. In the examination of the /