Senator Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana came to stay with our family in 1958 while we lived in Guatemala. Our dad, Kennedy M. Crockett, accompanied Ellender on a trip that Ellender filmed and called “On the Road Through Central America.”
Ellender was a US Senator from 1937 until he died in 1972. He focused primarily on agricultural issues and traveled extensively in the interest of foreign relations. However, as a staunch segregationist, he opposed civil rights, widely stirred controversy, and was unwelcome by some African countries. According to The New York Times, Ellender was third in the presidential line of succession at the time of his death.
Kennedy does not name the Senator by name in his memoir, and I’d like to believe he did so to avoid association with him.
US Embassy, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1958.
Downtown Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1960.
Mountainous countryside surrounding Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1958.
Street market in Jutiapa, Guatemala, about 124 kilometers from Guatemala City, near the border with El Salvador, 1958.
Plowing with a crooked limb, El Salvador, 1958.
Volcán de San Vicente, El Salvador, 1958.
US Embassy, San Salvador, El Salvador, 1958.
El Picacho, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1958.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1958.
Downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1958.
US Embassy, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 1958.
IAGS (Inter-American Geodetic Survey) helicopter waiting for Senator Ellender at the junction of the Pan American Highway and Rama Road, Nicaragua, 1958.
According to the NGA, the IAGS operated under diplomatic agreements and helped Latin American countries professionally map their territories.
Apoyeque caldera (Laguna de Apoyeque) on the Chiltepe Peninsula, which extends into Lake Managua in west-central Nicaragua, 1958.
According to Nasa Earth Observatory, the laguna is 1.7 miles wide and 1,300 feet deep.
Aerial of Momotombo’s crater on the north shore of Lake Managua, Nicaragua, 1958.
Managua on Lago Xolotlán (Lake Managua) with surrounding mountains and volcanoes. Momotombo’s perfect cone is visible in the background, 1958.
US Ambassador’s residence, Managua, Nicaragua, 1958.
Thatch roof huts in Quinama village, Nicaragua, 1958.
Volcán Concepción on Isla de Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua (Lago Cocibolca), Nicaragua, 1958.
US Embassy, San José, Costa Rica, 1958.
Senator Ellender and US Ambassador to Costa Rica Whiting Willauer, San José, Costa Rica, 1958.
Willauer also served as US Ambassador to Honduras in 1954, playing a key role working with the CIA in the operation to overthrow the president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.
US Ambassador’s residence, San José, Costa Rica, 1958.
San José, Costa Rica, and surrounding mountains in 1958.
United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) executives meet with Senator Ellender on a golf course in San José, Costa Rica, 1958.
The two US Army airplanes landed on the golf course for the meeting.
Senator Ellender and United Fruit Company execs with enormous stone sphere uncovered during banana plantation cultivation near Valle del Diquis, Costa Rica, 1958.
Senator Ellender on enormous stone sphere uncovered by the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica, 1958.
Senator Ellender on United Fruit Company railroad motorcar, Costa Rica, 1958.
United Fruit Company docks on Golfito Bay, Costa Rica, 1958
Golfito Bay off Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, 1958.
US Embassy, Panama City, Panama, 1958.
Port of Panama City and mouth of Panama Canal, 1958.