News of Kissinger, O’Connor deaths brought back fond memories

The deaths of Henry Kissinger and Sandra Day O’Connor within a day of each other brought back pleasant memories of both.

Kissinger visited El Paso in 1995 as the guest of newly elected U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison at a fundraiser in the Upper Valley home of John and Marge Kelly. As Dee and I greeted him in the receiving line, I mentioned I was a third generation El Pasoan and welcomed him to my hometown. He smiled and asked what I would do if I were staying at the Paso del Norte Hotel downtown with 30 minutes to spare.

“I’d walk down El Paso Street to the international bridge, pay the toll, go stand between the Mexican and American flags at the top, and look out over the cities of El Paso and Juárez before walking back,” I said. “But what a shame you don’t have more time! A Franciscan mission founded in 1659 – the first building in our region – is just on the other side.”

Kissinger responded, “What time do you want to pick me up?”

The next morning, I picked up Henry Kissinger in my Suburban. We drove to the Misión de Nuestra Se

ñora de Guadalupe in Juárez, its adobe and Mudejar style carved wood construction worthy of UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

We drove past the ex aduana on the 16th de Sep

tiembre where Porfirio Diaz and Howard Taft met on the eve of the Mexican Revolution in 1909. We also spoke about Jewish and Middle Eastern migration through Mexico as we drove past the Schwartz family ‘s Popular Dry Goods ( Popular meaning the same in English and Spanish) and the Haddad’s H&H Carwash on the U.S. side of the border.

Only once did I need to prod him to speak. As we stopped at the checkpoint on the Santa Fe Bridge coming back to El Paso, a female immigration official – looking at him quizzically as if wondering “do I know you?” – asked “citizenship?” After responding “U.S.,” I turned to my hesitating passenger and said, “Tell them where you’re from.” In his low, accented voice, Dr. Henry Kissinger responded, “United States of America.”

Seven years later, I was in Washington, D.C. as the newly named chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Knowing Sandra Day O’Connor’s roots in El Paso I inquired if she might swear in our 18-member committee at the Supreme Court. She graciously agreed, inviting my mother (her friend) to join us.

That evening President George W. Bush gave the National Medal for the Arts and the National Humanities Medal to distinguished Americans at Constitution Hall, and El Pasoan Jose Cisneros, renown illustrator of the Spanish borderlands, was honored. He and his family were feted at a White House reception, generously sponsored by Gerald Rubin of El Paso, the founder of Helen of Troy.

The next day at our meeting, one of our President’s Committee members inquired, “Do all roads lead to El Paso?” My response was a resounding, "Yes!"

Adair Margo is former First Lady of El Paso who chaired the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and served on the US National Commission for UNESCO during the two-term presidency of George W. Bush.