THE PRESIDENCY: 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 Niños Héroes—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 Alemán 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.