Book IV Prints 20-24: Arrival of United States Ambassador, Philip W. Bonsal, at presidential palace

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Manuscripts and Archives > Cuban revolution collection (MS 650) > Series I: Andrew St. George Photographs, Films, and Papers > Photographs > Contact Book IV > Book IV Prints 20-24: Arrival of United States Ambassador, Philip W. Bonsal, at presidential palace


10018266

Description

Title
Book IV Prints 20-24: Arrival of United States Ambassador, Philip W. Bonsal, at presidential palace
Creator
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Contributor
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
From the Collection: Stone, David C.
Published / Created
1959 March 5
Description
These prints document the arrival of the newly appointed United States Ambassador to Cuba, Philip W. Bonsal, at the Presidential Palace on March 5, 1959. Bonsal replaced Earl E.T. Smith whose close personal relationship and support for Fulgencio Batista throughout the dictatorship sullied his reputation among Cubans and made him the target of uniformly negative media attacks after the end of the Batista regime and the re-emergence of an uncensored free press in Cuba. After Smith resigned, Bonsal, who was fluent in Spanish, arrived in Havana on February 19, 1959, and presented his credentials to President Manuel Urrutia Lleó at the Presidential Palace on the occasion documented in this print (see especially 22-23). Frames 15-19 and 20-25 of Print 24 show Urrutia and Bonsal sitting and conversing together with Roberto Agramonte, a former professor of sociology at the University of Havana who had been the favored presidential candidate of the Orthodox Party in the 1952 election that ended with the staging of Batista's March 10th coup. Agramonte subsequently became Cuba's first Foreign Minister of the revolutionary government until he and several other ministers were removed from their positions by Prime Minister Fidel Castro on June 11, 1959, for unannounced reasons. The top row of frames in Print 24 shows Fidel Castro giving a press conference in an unidentified location with Teresa Casuso, his English-language translator and special assistant for public affairs for the first six months of the Revolution, at his side (see frame 4).
Provenance
Purchased from Andrew St. George in 1969 and from David C. Stone in 1970. Gift of Adolfas Mekas, 2010. Transferred from the Latin American Collection Curator, 2016.
Extent of Digitization
This object has been partially digitized.
Language
Multiple languages

Item Location

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives
Call Number
MS 650
Search for Additional Digitized Material in This Collection
Container / Volume
Box 3, folder 266-270

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Access And Usage Rights

Access
Public
Rights
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Citation
Cuban Revolution Collection (MS 650). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

Identifiers

Orbis Record
614150
Object ID (OID)
10018266

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