Philip Bonsal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Philip Bonsal
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| United States Ambassador to Morocco | |
| In office May 24, 1961 – August 8, 1962 |
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| President | John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | Charles Woodruff Yost |
| Succeeded by | John H. Ferguson |
| United States Ambassador to Cuba | |
| In office March 3, 1959 – October 28, 1960 |
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| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Earl E. T. Smith |
| Succeeded by | Jeffrey DeLaurentis (Acting, in 2015) |
| United States Ambassador to Bolivia | |
| In office May 10, 1957 – February 6, 1959 |
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| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Gerald A. Drew |
| Succeeded by | Carl W. Strom |
| United States Ambassador to Colombia | |
| In office April 1, 1955 – April 24, 1957 |
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| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Rudolf E. Schoenfeld |
| Succeeded by | John M. Cabot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 22, 1903 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 28, 1995 (aged 92) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Spouse | Margaret Lockett |
| Parents | Stephen Bonsal Henrietta Morris |
| Relatives |
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Philip Wilson Bonsal (May 22, 1903 – June 28, 1995) was an American diplomat. He worked for the U.S. Department of State. He was an expert on Latin American countries. He served as the United States Ambassador to Cuba from 1959 to 1960. This was during the first years of Fidel Castro's rule.
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A Look at Philip Bonsal's Early Life
Philip Bonsal was born in New York City on May 22, 1903. His father, Stephen Bonsal, was a well-known journalist and diplomat. Stephen Bonsal even won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. Philip's family came from English Quakers. They helped found the colony of Pennsylvania way back in 1682. His mother, Henrietta Morris, was a descendant of Gouverneur Morris, a key leader in the American Revolution. Philip also had three brothers. One of them was Dudley Baldwin Bonsal, who became a judge in New York.
Philip studied in the Philippines and Switzerland when he was young. He later graduated from Yale University in 1924. Around 1929, he married Margaret Lockett from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Before becoming a diplomat, Bonsal lived in Cuba for a few months as a student. He worked for the Cuban Telephone Company. After that, he worked in Spain and Chile for the parent company, International Telephone & Telegraph. He rose to lead their Latin American division. From 1935 to 1937, he worked for the Federal Communications Commission. He was a specialist in telephone services there. Philip Bonsal was also fluent in Spanish.
Philip Bonsal's Diplomatic Career
Bonsal joined the U.S. State Department in 1937. He served as Vice Consul and Third Secretary at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, from 1938 to 1939. After that, he spent a year in Washington, D.C. working as the Cuban desk officer.
Working in Bolivia (1944)
In 1944, Bonsal was part of the U.S. embassy staff in Bolivia. He tried to convince the State Department to overlook the strong words of Bolivia's opposition parties. He believed their anger was a natural reaction to the previous pro-American government. He told Secretary of State Cordell Hull that the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) group represented the "legitimate and respectable" hopes of some Bolivian people. However, the U.S. insisted that Bolivian President Gualberto Villarroel remove MNR members from his government.
Bonsal also served as an advisor at the 1954 Geneva Conference. This meeting discussed issues in Korea and Indochina.
Ambassador to Colombia
In February 1955, President Eisenhower nominated Bonsal to be the United States Ambassador to Colombia. The U.S. Senate approved his appointment. He started his role on April 1. Bonsal made friends with politicians who were against the government. This angered Colombia's dictator, General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. The dictator then convinced the State Department to move Bonsal to a different role.
In January 1957, Bonsal represented the U.S. at the United Nations. He supported a plan to change how the UN fought apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was a system of racial separation. He suggested the UN should focus more on discussion. He also wanted them to recognize racial discrimination as a problem in other countries too.
President Eisenhower then nominated him as the United States Ambassador to Bolivia on March 18, 1957. Bonsal finished his work in Colombia on April 24, 1957.
Ambassador to Bolivia (1957-1959)
Philip Bonsal served as the United States Ambassador to Bolivia from 1957 to 1959. He strongly supported the U.S. economic aid program there. He later called it a "pioneer" and a "solitary example" of what the U.S. needed to do in Latin America. This program aimed to help Bolivia's economy.
Ambassador to Cuba
In January 1959, President Eisenhower named Bonsal the United States Ambassador to Cuba. This happened just days after Fidel Castro took power. The New York Times newspaper called his appointment "a splendid choice." They said he was a "distinguished career diplomat" with all the right skills for the difficult job. Bonsal's predecessor, Earl E. T. Smith, had been friendly with the previous Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Smith was quickly called back by the State Department after Batista was removed from power. Some people believe that choosing Bonsal showed the U.S. wanted to calm down the Cuban Revolution. They hoped to do this in a similar way to how they handled the Bolivian Revolution of 1952.
Bonsal tried to find a way to work with Castro's new government. He knew that "animosity was inevitable" but hoped they could eventually have a "reasoned dialogue." However, Castro criticized Bonsal's arrival in the Cuban news. He compared Bonsal to a colonial ruler, making dialogue difficult.
In May 1959, Bonsal spoke to a committee in the U.S. Congress. He explained why the revolution had so much support. He said the corruption and violence of Batista's helpers united most Cubans against the old government. He described how Batista's security forces had killed many people. He also said many others were arrested without charges and kept in jail for a long time.
In August, Bonsal told Secretary of State Herter that U.S.-Cuban relations were getting worse. This was because the U.S. allowed hundreds of Batista's allies to live in America. This made Cubans think the U.S. was helping those who wanted to go against the revolution. Bonsal urged that these people be made to "move on to some other country."
On September 3, 1959, Bonsal met with Castro. He shared concerns that American businesses were worried about government agents acting unfairly. He also complained about anti-American comments made by Che Guevara. Castro advised patience with "the exuberances of young and inexperienced revolutionaries."
In October 1959, Castro called the U.S. "accomplices" of Batista's loyalists. These loyalists had launched air attacks on Cuba. Bonsal formally protested to Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós on October 27. He blamed Castro for the worsening relations between the two countries.
In mid-1960, Cuba agreed to sell sugar to the Soviet Union. This led to a series of actions between the U.S. and Cuba. The U.S. stopped buying Cuban sugar. Cuba then took over American-owned businesses. On October 19, the U.S. stopped most exports to Cuba, except for food and medicine. Bonsal believed the Eisenhower administration was overreacting. He thought these actions were pushing Castro into an alliance with the Soviets.
After Castro asked for fewer staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Bonsal was called back to Washington in October 1960. Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries ended soon after. The U.S. diplomatic presence in Cuba was then handled by the United States Interests Section in Havana. This section was part of the embassy of Switzerland. This arrangement lasted until July 20, 2015, when relations improved during the Cuban Thaw.
Some members of the U.S. Congress felt that Bonsal's friendly approach to Castro was giving in to communism.
Ambassador to Morocco
Bonsal served as the United States Ambassador to Morocco from 1961 to 1962. He retired from government service in 1965.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1971, Philip Bonsal spoke out about the Vietnam War. He called for the U.S. to "disengage from a bankrupt Vietnam policy." He pointed out that China and Russia had spent less on the conflict compared to the U.S. He hoped that major world powers would realize that fighting through other countries was too destructive.
He also described the Pentagon Papers as "stolen property." He disagreed with those who ignored the breaking of government secrecy rules just because the information supported their political views.
Bonsal wrote a book about his experiences called "Cuba, Castro and the United States" in 1971.
Philip Bonsal died of pneumonia on June 28, 1995, at the age of 92. His wife survived him. His important papers are kept at the Library of Congress.
See also
- Cuba-United States relations
- History of Cuba
