Philip Wilson Bonsal (May 22, 1903 – June 28, 1995) was an American career diplomat with the
U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
. A specialist in Latin American affairs, he served as
United States Ambassador to Cuba
The United States ambassador to the Republic of Cuba is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Cuba, and serves as the head of the Embassy of the United States in Havana. Direct bilateral diploma ...
from February 1959 until October 1960, the first months of the
Castro
Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''.
...
regime.
Early years
Bonsal was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on May 22, 1903. His father was
Stephen Bonsal
Stephen Bonsal (March 29, 1865 – June 8, 1951) was an American journalist, war correspondent, author, diplomat, and translator, who won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Early life
Bonsal was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1865. He was e ...
(1865–1951), a well-known journalist who served several years in the US diplomatic corps, wrote several books, and won a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
.
The Bonsals descended from English Quakers who participated in founding the colony of Pennsylvania in 1682. His mother was Henrietta Morris, a descendant of
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the U ...
, a leader in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. He had three brothers, including New York judge
Dudley Baldwin Bonsal
Dudley Baldwin Bonsal (October 6, 1906 – July 22, 1995) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Early life and background
Bonsal was born in Bedford, New York, the son o ...
.
Bonsal's early education took place in the Philippines and Switzerland.
He graduated from Yale in 1924.
Bonsal married Margaret Lockett of
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, circa 1929.
[
After living in ]Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
for several months as a student trainee with the Cuban Telephone Company, Bonsal worked in Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
for its parent company, International Telephone & Telegraph, rising to become chief of its Latin American Division. He then entered government service as a specialist in telephone services with the Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
,[ where he remained from 1935 to 1937.
Bonsal was fluent in ]Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
.[
]
Diplomatic service
Bonsal joined the State Department in 1937.[ He was Vice Consul and Third Secretary in the US embassy in Havana in 1938 and 1939, followed by a year in Washington as Cuban desk officer at the State Department.][
While on the staff of the US embassy in Bolivia in 1944, he tried without success to persuade the State Department to ignore the rhetoric of Bolivia's radical opposition parties, which he excused as reflexive opposition to the recently ousted pro-American regime of ]Enrique Peñaranda
Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo (15 November 1892 – 22 December 1969) was a Bolivian general who served as the 38th president of Bolivia from 1940 until his overthrow in 1943. He previously served as commander-in-chief of the country's armed ...
. He told Secretary of State Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...
that the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) embodied the "legitimate and respectable... aspirations of certain sectors of the Bolivian people." Instead, the US forced President Gualberto Villarroel
Gualberto Villarroel López (15 December 1908 – 21 July 1946) was a Bolivian military officer who served as the 39th president of Bolivia from 1943 to 1946. A reformist, sometimes compared with Argentina's Juan Perón, he is nonetheless ...
to remove members of the MNR from his cabinet.
Bonsal served as an adviser at the 1954 Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference, intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War, was a conference involving several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 20 July 1954. The part o ...
on Korea and Indochina.
Colombia
Eisenhower nominated Bonsal as United States Ambassador to Colombia
The following is a list of ambassadors of the United States, or other chiefs of mission, to Colombia and its predecessor states. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Mi ...
in February 1955.[ The ]US Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
confirmed the appointment on February 11, and he presented his credentials on April 1. He maintained friendly relations with opposition politicians, angering Colombian dictator General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian Army of Colombia, Army general, civil engineer and dictator who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia as from June 1953 to May 1957.
Rojas ...
,[ who persuaded the State Department to reassign him.][
In January 1957, representing the US at the United Nations General Assembly's Special Political Committee, he supported a Philippine proposal, endorsed by representatives of Peru, Nepal, and other nations, for the UN to modify its confrontational approach in fighting apartheid in South Africa and to shift to tactics that would promote discussion and recognize the problem of racial discrimination in other countries as well.
Eisenhower nominated him as ]United States Ambassador to Bolivia
The following is a list of envoys, ministers, and ambassadors that the United States has sent to Bolivia. As a point of note, the first Ambassador of the United States to Bolivia was John Appleton, who served as the ''charge d'Affaires'' fr ...
on March 18, 1957. He concluded his service in Colombia on April 24, 1957.
Bolivia
Bonsal served as United States Ambassador to Bolivia
The following is a list of envoys, ministers, and ambassadors that the United States has sent to Bolivia. As a point of note, the first Ambassador of the United States to Bolivia was John Appleton, who served as the ''charge d'Affaires'' fr ...
from 1957 to 1959. He wholeheartedly supported the US economic assistance program under way there, which he later described as a "pioneer" and "solitary example" of what was required of the US in Latin America.[
]
Cuba
In January 1959, Eisenhower named Bonsal United States Ambassador to Cuba
The United States ambassador to the Republic of Cuba is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Cuba, and serves as the head of the Embassy of the United States in Havana. Direct bilateral diploma ...
just days after Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
came to power. The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called his appointment "a splendid choice" and described him as "a distinguished career diplomat" with "every qualification that could be asked for the difficult and gratifying task he is taking on." Bonsal's predecessor, Earl E. T. Smith, had maintained friendly relations with Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...
and was quickly recalled by the State Department after Batista's ouster. It has been argued that the choice of Bonsal signaled an intention on the part of the State Department to defuse the Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
in the same way that it had defused the Bolivian Revolution of 1952.
Bonsal attempted to find a working arrangement with the leader of the new government. Bonsal admitted that "animosity was inevitable" but that he was hopeful that "at some point we can get down to a reasoned dialogue." Castro was critical of the arrival of Bonsal in the Cuban press and compared him to a colonial viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
, and dialogue was not easily forthcoming.
When Bonsal testified before a closed session of the House Committee on Foreign Relations in May 1959, he explained why the revolution had such widespread popular support: "the corruption and the sadism of many Batista henchmen united most Cubans against the regime." He described how Batista's security forces had killed many while "many, many more were arrested on no charges and kept in jail for indefinite periods."
In August, he protested to Secretary of State Herter that Cuban-American relations were being poisoned by the fact that the US was allowing several hundred Batista allies to live in the country, which appeared to the Cubans as harboring counter-revolutionaries. He urged them to be forced to "move on to some other country."
On September 3, 1959, Bonsal met with Castro and express concern that American businesses, which had complied fully with the Land Reform Law, were concerned that government agents were acting arbitrarily and without legal sanction. He complained of anti-American comments by Guevara, who was then on a world tour. Castro advised patience and forbearance with "the exuberances of young and inexperienced revolutionaries."
In October 1959, Castro called the US "accomplices" of Batista loyalists forces who had launched air attacks on Cuba. Bonsal lodged a formal protest with Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós Osvaldo may refer to the following people:
Given name
*Osvaldo Alonso, Cuban football player
*Osvaldo Ardiles (born 1952), an Argentine football player and coach
*Osvaldo Bagnoli, an Italian football coach
*Osvaldo Brandão, a Brazilian football c ...
on October 27 and blamed Castro for the deterioration of relations.
In mid-1960, the Cuban government reached an agreement to sell 700,000 tons of sugar to the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, leading to a series of escalating actions by the US and Cuba. The US suspended sugar imports, Cuba nationalized American-owned businesses, and on October 19, the US imposed an embargo on US exports to Cuba except for food and medicine. Bonsal thought the Eisenhower administration was over-reacting and forcing Castro into an alliance with the Soviets.
After Castro called for a reduction in the staff of the US embassy in Havana, Bonsal was recalled to Washington in October 1960.
Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed shortly afterward, and US diplomatic representation in Cuba was handled by the United States Interests Section in Havana
The United States Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana, Cuba or USINT Havana (the State Department telegraphic address) represented United States interests in Cuba from September 1, 1977, to July 20, 2015. It was staffed by ...
, part of the embassy of Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. That arrangement lasted until July 20, 2015, with the culmination of the Cuban Thaw
The Cuban thaw ( es, Deshielo cubano) was the normalization of Cuba–United States relations that began in December 2014 ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations. In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president ...
.
Some leading members of the US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...
felt his attempt at a conciliatory approach to the Castro regime represented an appeasement of communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Morocco
Bonsal was United States Ambassador to Morocco
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Morocco. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States of America in 1777. Regular diplomatic relations were established in 1905. In 1912 Morocco came under the control of France ...
from 1961 to 1962. He retired from government service in 1965.[
]
Later years
As of 1971, he called for "disengagement from a bankrupt Vietnam policy" by noting that China and Russia had invested comparatively modest resources in the conflict, compared to the American loss of 40,000 lives. He hoped that all the major powers would nevertheless recognize that "big-power confrontation by proxy is so repulsively destructive of the welfare of the proxies as to render its repetition elsewhere inconceivable".
He also described the Pentagon Papers
The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States' political and military ...
as "stolen property" and objected to those who ignored the violation of government secrecy standards because the revelations supported their political judgment.
Bonsal published a memoir, "Cuba, Castro and the United States," in 1971.
Bonsal died of pneumonia on June 28, 1995, at the age of 92. He was survived by his wife.[
His papers are held by the ]Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
.
See also
* Cuba-United States relations
* History of Cuba
The history of Cuba is characterized by dependence on outside powers—Spain, the US, and the USSR. The island of Cuba was inhabited by various Amerindian cultures prior to the arrival of the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492. Afte ...
Notes
References
External links
U.S. Dept. of State, Office of the Historian: Philip Wilson Bonsal (1903-1995)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsal, Philip
1903 births
1995 deaths
Morris family (Morrisania and New Jersey)
People from New York City
Yale University alumni
20th-century American diplomats
Ambassadors of the United States to Bolivia
Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia
Ambassadors of the United States to Cuba
Ambassadors of the United States to Morocco
United States Foreign Service personnel
American people of Powhatan descent