Existing comment:
Cultural Diplomacy
Artist in Exile:
Pablo Casals
On November 13, 1961, 84-year-old cellist Pablo Casals performed at the White House for the first time since performing for Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. The occasion was a State Dinner for the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín. The audience included musicians, journalists, music critics, diplomats, and composers including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
Casals had been living in self-imposed exile from his native Spain in opposition to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Yet he saw in Kennedy hope for a peaceful and free future. In a letter accepting the invitation to perform, he wrote, “May the music that I will play for you and for your friends symbolize my deep feelings for the American people and the faith and confidence we all have in you as a leader of the Free World.” |