◆ SpookStack

Schlesinger does go on, to pin Rusk down as the one principally responsible for the cancellation, stating: Rusk, after his talks with Stevenson, concluded that a second Nicaraguan strike would put the United States in an untenable position internationally, and that no further strikes should be launched until the planes could fly (or appear to fly) from the beachhead. Bundy agreed, and they called the President at Glen Ora. 108/ Then, according to Schlesinger, when Rusk and Bundy had the President on the telephone: Rusk said that the projected strike was one which could only appear to come from Nicaragua, Kennedy said, "I'm not signed on to this"; the strike he knew about was the one coming ostensibly from the beach- head. After a long conversation, the President directed that the strike be canceled." 109/ What Schlesinger conveniently overlooked in the above comments regarding the cancellation of the second strike was the fact that .the prohibition was not only that the strikes must appear to come from the beachhead, but there was no provision in the new directions for strikes against any tactical air tar- gets. The B-26's were to support and protect the troops coming into the beachhead, and strikes against the airfields -- the key to the success of the entire invasion operation -- were automatically ruled out. - 265 -