Philip Bonsal; Ambassador to Cuba at Start of Castro Era

Philip W. Bonsal, 92, the last U.S. ambassador to Cuba before diplomatic ties with Fidel Castro’s government were severed in 1961. Bonsal, a member of the State Department’s foreign service, also served as ambassador to Colombia, Bolivia and Morocco during a 27-year career that ended with his retirement in 1965. Bonsal was posted to Havana in January, 1959, the same month that Castro’s communist revolution overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He was unable to establish a dialogue with Castro as U.S.-Cuban relations deteriorated steadily. He was called home by the Eisenhower Administration in October, 1960. In Washington on June 28 of pneumonia.