Fiesta

Files of blue-clad Mexican Army cadets waited in the grove of ancient and enormous trees beneath Mexico City's historic Chapultepec Castle. As Harry Truman's black, bulletproof Lincoln stopped in the deep shade, the cadets stood rigidly at attention. The President of the U.S. stepped out, walked to a stone shaft which stood amid the trees. An aide handed him a wreath. He laid it down, stood for a few moments, bowed, walked back to his car. A few cadets wept silently. The presidential procession rolled on.

The little ceremony had lasted only a few moments. It had not been a part of the President's official schedule, and no crowds had gathered. The U.S. Ambassador, Walter Thurston, who had suggested it, had done everything possible to avoid ostentation. But within a few hours the simple act had made Harry Truman a hero.

The monument on which he had laid his flowers bore the names of Los Ninos Heroes--six teen-age cadets who died when U.S. troops took Chapultepec in 1847. According to defiant legend, five had stabbed themselves rather than surrender to the invaders from the North. A sixth had leaped to death from a parapet, wrapped in the castle's battle flag.*

Salute to Valor. To millions of Mexicans the President's gesture was an amazing salute to Mexican pride and Mexican valor./- Newspapers ran black with the news. Men & women shouted it on the streets, stopped U.S. citizens to retell the story. A taxi driver named Juan Gomez said: "I even cry when I hear this. To think that the most powerful man in the world would come and apologize." Many a man of wealth and influence agreed. Said Engineer Ramon Ayala: "One hundred years of misunderstanding and bitterness wiped out by one man in one minute. That is the best neighbor policy."

After that there could be no doubt that Harry Truman's three-day trip to Mexico was an unqualified diplomatic success. The trip had been planned on the spur of the moment, and largely because of his friendship for Mexico's bald, beaming Ambassador Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros. The ambassador had suggested a visit one day last winter; the President had agreed wholeheartedly, then had said: "How about some time in March?"

Viva! Mexico was ready for him. The weather was perfect--hot, bright, dry. Hundreds of thousands cheered him as he rode through the city, flanked by noisy coveys of brown-uniformed federal motorcycle policemen. When he made an appearance at the national stadium he was greeted by waves of applause, bugle calls, band music and a thunderous 21-gun salute.

This was just the beginning of a prodigious round of appearances and entertainment. Mexico's black-haired President Miguel Aleman held a reception for him at the National Palace, a dinner at his residence. The Minister of Foreign Affairs held another reception. When Harry Truman reciprocated with a party at the U.S. Embassy, dozens of guests showed up with gifts.

Sunburn & Archeology. Despite Mexico City's thin air and his back-breaking schedule, the President seemed to enjoy his furlough from Washington immensely. He returned the "Vivas!" of street crowds, shook hands untiringly at dinners and parties, slept well under a robe of vicuna pelts at the embassy, got up as early as usual. On his last day he went sightseeing. In the morning he took a 2 1/2-hour jaunt in the Sacred Cow, peered down from 13,000 feet at smoking Paricutin volcano. After that, reddening in the sun, he drove 30 miles to view the archeological wonders of Teotihuacan, ate lunch in a flower-walled tent, and marveled at the ancient Temple of Quetzalcoatl.

He left before sunup the next morning. Though the moon was still shining brightly on the wings of airplanes on the field, and the mountain air was chill, a thousand people were on hand to bid him goodbye. As the Sacred Cow labored off the runways, Harry Truman was worrying a little. Mexico's President Aleman was to visit him next month, and he wondered if his busy fellow Norte-Americanos would take time to match the hospitality he had encountered south of the border.

* Chronicles of the Battle of Chapultepec simply state that five cadets were killed by gunfire, and a sixth was bayoneted as U.S. troops swept into the castle.

/- U.S. military history has a somewhat similar incident. On May 10, 1864, Virginia Military Institute cadets were ordered into action for the battle of New Market, Va. Though ten were killed, 45 wounded, the 247 cadets charged gallantly, helped a meager Confederate force repulse Union troops who were seeking to cut the Virginia Central Railroad and thus cripple Richmond.

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