◆ SpookStack

The testimony of the members of the JCS was the most acrimonious and disputatious of all the sessions held by the Taylor Committee. It is quite apparent that there was a positive effort on the part of at least one CSG member--Robert Kennedy--to hang the albatross of failure at Playa Giron about the necks of the Joint Chiefs as well as the CIA. It is equally obvious, however, that the generals were going to make an all-out effort to protect themselves. It speaks highly for the caliber of the military personnel who were under the gun, that they spoke their minds--apparently without regard to the consequences that such openness might have on their military careers. As with other sessions of the Cuban Study Group, it is unfortunate that the members of the committee who posed questions or who made statements are not identified in the record of this meeting; and it is unfortunate., too, that the record is not verbatim text. The first of the military Chiefs to testify was the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David M. Shoup. Very early in his testimony, Gen. Shoup made it clear that there were aspects of the planned operation against Castro about which he had no knowledge.. In such instances where he thought it appropriate, he suggested that perhaps the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would/have such information. Gen. Shoup's point, of course, was that the Chairman of the JCS, rather than the other members, was most likely to have been party to planning sessions for the Bay of Pigs Operation. His general statement 114