A little humility never hurts.

A lot of hubris does, though

Faced with embarrassing defeat, President Joe Biden should show some humility, not the excessive pride and arrogance that defines hubris.

It might save his presidency –  if it is still salvageable.

He should study President John F. Kennedy and the embarrassing defeat that was the disastrous of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Come April, political junkies will recall the 1961 CIA-backed doomed invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, an ill-advised beach front attack that was designed to oust Communist dictator Fidel Castro.

Approved by outgoing Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960, the attack, which assumed that the Cuban people would rise and support the invasion, was green lighted by a reluctant Democratic President John F. Kennedy in 1961. It was supposed to be a walkover.

Kennedy had misgivings about the plan he inherited from Eisenhower. But Kennedy, 43, in office for only three months, listened to the CIA and his military advisors and authorized the plan anyway after insisting that U.S support be disguised. He would show leadership, in actuality, hubris.

In short, some 1,400 anti-Castro guerrilla fighters, trained and armed by the CIA in Guatemala, launched what was supposed to be a surprise invasion of Cuba on April 17, 1961.

It seemed, however, that half of Miami knew of the attack. So, instead of being surprised, Castro’s forces were alerted, ready and waiting.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, beginning with a failed airstrike from unmarked planes. Castro and his forces, 20,000 strong, met the invaders on the swampy beach and killed or captured them. A second air strike was canceled, and Kennedy pulled the plug.

Castro, in a mockery of Kennedy and the U.S., immediately paraded the captured prisoners through Havana on live television for the world to see.

For Kennedy, it was a debacle.

However, to the surprise of many, a humbled Kennedy did not share the blame, or blame anyone but himself for the humiliating defeat.

He did not criticize Eisenhower or the people around Eisenhower who put the invasion plan together before handing it off to him.

Nor did he publicly criticize his own advisors who had pushed the plan.

He had listened to the “experts” and the experts had been wrong. He had been wrong. He took the blame himself.

Kennedy said, “There’s an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat in an orphan.” He was an orphan. He had been humbled and he admitted it.

He added, “I’ve said as much as I feel can be usefully said by me in regard to the events of the past few days. Further statements, detailed discussions, are not to conceal responsibility, because I’m the responsible officer of the government.”

He added, “The final responsibilities of any failure are mine, and mine alone.”

Rather than taking a beating in the polls Kennedy, because of his forthrightness and humility, saw his popularity increase.

People responded favorably to a president who did not pass the buck but who took responsibility for the failed invasion. Kennedy swallowed his pride and the people responded.

Biden would do himself a lot of good if he, for instance, took responsibility for negative events under his leadership the way Kennedy did. He could begin by taking responsibility for his reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan that needlessly cost the lives of 13 American soldiers. He called the withdrawal, which set the tone for subsequent U.S. appeasement around the world, a success.

At home, Biden could admit he made a disastrous mistake by opening the southern border and waving in some 10 million illegal immigrants from around the world who have overwhelmed and destabilized cities and states across the country.

All Biden would have to do to restore order — and show some humility — is restore the border initiatives that Donald Trump put in place that he eliminated on his first day in office.

But his excessive pride, his arrogance, his hubris, will not allow him to do so.

We need a John F. Kennedy.

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.

This April 1961 file photo shows Fidel Castro, center, with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces at his base of operations at the Australia Sugar Refinery in Jaguey, near Playa Giron, during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. (AP Photo/Str)