Fifth Columnist has another good article up.
After the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion--a disaster which President Kennedy had guaranteed by foolishly giving the go-ahead based on boneheaded advice from the CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff--our commander in chief took the blame. He told reporters "the quite obvious," as he put it: "I am the responsible officer of the government," and as such only he was accountable for the blunder. Privately, Kennedy asked presidential aide Theodore Sorensen rhetorically, "How could I have been so stupid?" Note the "I." Not how the CIA or Joint Chiefs could have been so stupid, but the ultimate first citizen.
