JOHN F. KENNEDY AND ISABEL DÍAZ AYUSO

 

In a previous post, I likened Isabel Díaz Ayuso to President John F. Kennedy. How so? He was the first US president to honor the arts and letters from the very start. Robert Frost spoke at his inauguration. Pablo Casals performed his "Cant dels ocells" at the White House. He wrote Profiles in Courage (1956), which I read eagerly at the time. He gave the youth and the public at large a glimpse of hope and stability. Yesterday, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Madrid Community, traveled to Cantabria, in Spain, to give an Award to Alfonso Ussía, a prominent Spanish writer. She visited the writer and his family, paying tribute to his efforts to enrich the cultural landscape of the Spanish language. She is that rare kind of politician, one of the very few who give writers and artists their due. Thank you, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and carry on.