JFK said that after the Bay of Pigs disaster. He let himself be convinced by the CIA that a ragtag band of 1200 poorly trained, poorly armed, poorly led irregulars could land on a beach 100 miles from Havana and somehow topple Castro at the height of his popularity.

But JFK was a master politician. He handled the aftermath brilliantly. He leaked that he cried on Jackie's shoulder for the fate of those captured. Then he held a news conference and said that he was "the responsible officer" - as if anyone else than he was responsible. Then he famously said, "Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan." Newsmen parsed every syllable he uttered, and they began to wonder who those missing "fathers of failure" might be. They didn't have to wait long--within days, his aides (and probably JFK himself) were leaking to favored reporters and editors, off the record, that JFK wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand shards." Bingo! The media immediately began blaming Alan Dulles, director of Central Intelligence, for the disaster. This gave JFK the opportunity to step in and gallantly defend Dulles. He let him stay on for a few months and then retired him in favor of John McCone.