In April, Kennedy allowed the CIA to move forward with a poorly planned invasion of Cuba, which resulted in humiliation at the hands of Fidel Castro: the Bay of Pigs.

CNN: Commentary: Obama's 100 days of problems?

And the disasters are etched deep in the public (or at least journalistic) memory: the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961, for example, or the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s.

ECONOMIST: Sam Bond? Sounds funny