JFK, 1962

CPR with JFK, 1962

After ten years as our ambassador to the United States, Carlos P. Romulo announced in 1962 that he was going home. “No diplomat ever left Washington with as much acclaim as did Romulo . . . who received tributes from all three branches of government, and keys to cities all across the nation,” wrote Leonard Lyons of The New York Post. “Even New York’s tough, cynical citizens gave him a standing ovation….”

John F. Kennedy received him in the Oval Office: “Not since Lafayette left has anyone received such acclaim,” said the US President, referring to the French military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Romulo quipped, “Maybe they’re just eager to get rid of me.”

Kennedy summed up Romulo’s crowning achievements in a farewell letter:

You are identified with great moments in the history of my nation–with the emergence of the Philippines as a free and democratic republic, with the resistance to aggression during the Second World War, with the formative years of the United Nations. You leave behind not only good friends but imperishable memories.