Welcome, Mr. President

PalmaHe declared himself excited to visit the land of Juníper Serra and satisfied to combat, in good camaraderie, with the Franco dictatorship, against international communism. 70 years ago, at the beginning of the summer of 1956, who was then Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, made a lightning visit to Mallorca to meet with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and, as a good tourist, to swim for a while on the beach.

That was no ordinary visit. Franco, the former ally of Hitler and Mussolini, had become best friends with the United States against the common enemy: the USSR. The 1953 agreements provided bases for the Americans and money for the regime. Two of those installations for US use were located in the Balearic Islands: the W-7 Sóller, with the two colossal spheres on Puig Major, and the one at Esclusa, in Menorca. Another consequence of the new understanding was the constant presence of the VI Fleet: especially in Palma, but also in the bay of Pollença, where up to thirty ships even anchored at the same time. This, however, ended suddenly, when a scandal occurred when a young sailor went to bed with a young woman on vacation and it turned out that she was the daughter of a big shot from the United States.

In this context of rapprochement between the superpower and the desperate dictatorship, the visit to Mallorca of the then US Vice President Richard Nixon took place, at the beginning of July 1956. It was not made in Madrid, but in a peripheral space. And it was not Eisenhower and Franco, who would not see each other until 1959, but the number two of the US and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the dictatorship, Alberto Martín Artajo.

Kennedy: “I want a ship and I want it now”

Nixon's stay in Mallorca lasted only four hours. He stated that it was "an exciting experience" to be on "the beautiful island" of Juníper Serra, so linked to his native state, California. And he expressed the "close union" that the 1953 agreements represented, based on the "joint determination to defend the West against the subversive and divisive tactics of international communism". Yes, it is the same Nixon who, just a few years later, as president, would embrace Brezhnev and Mao, not in vain was he known as 'Dicky Tricky', 'Ricardet el Trampòs', and would end up resigning as a consequence of his trickery.

Besides practicing the usual rhetoric –that of Francoism was very similar–, what the vice president, like a good tourist, was eager to do was to take a dip. Of course, it had to be under strict security measures, so the chosen place was the restricted military zone of Illetes, where Nixon and Artajo shared some time and the Californian lavished praise on the Mallorcan landscape. All that was missing was Fraga in a swimsuit to get the photo, as happened with the Palomares incident a few years later, when he got into the water in the company of the American ambassador to demonstrate that some atomic bombs, dropped from US planes, were not dangerous to health.

Republican Nixon was to be Eisenhower's successor. But he ran into a whippersnapper, the democrat Kennedy, who ate him alive in a televised debate. Even before reaching the White House, he must have been very popular. So much so that they say that one evening, at the mythical Tito's nightclub in Palma, someone took advantage of the remarkable resemblance of the Mallorcan journalist and editor Lluís Ripoll to the future president to announce: “Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have with us the United States Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy”. And Ripoll, without thinking twice, got up and greeted the audience.

President Kennedy never got to visit Mallorca, as he was assassinated in 1963. His widow, Jacqueline, did visit as Mrs. Onassis. But two of his sisters and a brother did get to know the island – they were a large family. TumiBestard, who was the United States consul in Palma, recounts that, in 1967, Jean and Pat Kennedy wanted to experience the very Mallorcan tradition of a bullfight, at the Colisseu Balear. Unfortunately, when the bullfighter threw his hat to them as a tribute, Pat Kennedy, as a gift, put a pin with the United States flag inside it, with the pin open, by accident. The bullfighter got a good prick on the head, in any case, nothing comparable to what he did to the bull. And the Kennedys, to tell the truth, were not enthusiastic about that barbaric spectacle.

The following year, his brother Edward Ted Kennedy visited Mallorca. And once again, it was Bestard who had to act as their host, under the embassy's warning that "this gentleman may one day become president". Indeed, with his brothers John and Robert dead, it was now his turn to aspire to the White House, something that would never become a reality due to a car accident in which the woman accompanying him died.

The tie of the consul of Mallorca

The acting civil governor, who was also related to Franco, received him with a long speech, of which Ted understood nothing. When they finally got rid of him, Kennedy asked Bestard: “I need a boat. Now”. They had to make do with an old boat – recounts the consul. But the American didn't seem very skilled in the art of sailing. They ran out of gasoline and had to row: as they were returning to the port, the man who could have been president began to shout, with all his might: “Sam! Sam! Sam!”. And, indeed, producer Sam Spiegel's yacht rescued them.

In 1992 and 1993, two former presidents of the United States visited Mallorca: the democrat Jimmy Carter and the republican George Bush (father), respectively. By then, circumstances had completely changed: the enemy, the USSR, had fallen on its own. Spain was already a democracy and a member of NATO. The Esclusa base closed in 1993 and the Puig Major one was transferred to the State army. Nor did so many American sailors come anymore.

It was Bush, precisely, who had sealed peace with the Soviets at the Malta summit, in 1989, with Gorbachev. The curious thing is that he was wearing a tie, very opportune, with the flags of the United States and the Soviet Union. That tie had been bought in London by Tumi Bestard and it had been lent to him by a vice-admiral, who had passed it on to the president. Gorbachev loved that piece. But Bush did not dare to give it to him, because, after all, it was not his.

The Gulf War of 1990 was still very close, so the Republican ex-president was greeted with a graffiti: "Bush, murderer, go home", at the doors of the Consulate in Palma. The Bushes sailed through the waters of the Balearic Islands. On August 19, the former president made a brief visit to Palma, with a reception at Bellver Castle and a meeting with the then King Juan Carlos and Sofia. He did not want to comment on politics. But he did apologize for having passed through Gibraltar before, which had caused some diplomatic discomfort, due to the eternal Spanish claim over this British colony.

Jimmy Carter did want to comment on current events, who came the previous year and predicted that Clinton would win the elections. His day was intense: a snack with the mayoress of Calvià, Margarita Nájera; Bellver Castle, where the then mayor of Palma, Joan Fageda, received him in English, to which Carter replied that he should speak to him in Spanish, because he knew it well enough; and the Cathedral, Valldemossa and lunch with the businessman Miquel Nigorra in Santa Ponça.

Two more American presidents would still visit Mallorca: the democrat Bill Clinton, in 1997 still in office, and in 2001 and 2005, as former president, and the also democrat Barack Obama, already outside the White House, in 2024. Mallorca only lacks a visit from Donald Trump: someone could suggest to him that leaving the presidency and spending a few days in Mallorca might be a good idea.

Information elaborated from texts by Bartomeu Bestard Cladera, Matías Vallés, Antoni Janer Torrens and Susana Sueiro Seoane, the newspapers Última Hora and Diario de Mallorca and the collective volume Memòria viva.