1962 Press Photo Jose Rico-Zorrilla, Spanish lawyer employed by US embassy

There were parades. There was wine. There were thousands of girls and misspelt signs welcoming the Americans. Valencia, in the fall of 1952 was suddenly the wildest, biggest party in all of Spain. She, that tiny and sleeping town, had been chosen as the first Spanish port to admit an American fleet since before World War II. She welcomed them in Spanish style-with bare-legged girls in red dresses, with gifts of food and with music at every house and street corner. In Valencia today, as elsewhere in Spain, the pro-American feeling is still there. That was brought to mind today by 29-year-old Jose Rico-Zorrilla, a Spanish lawyer employed by the US embassy in Madrid since those Valencia days of 1952. He is visiting New Orleans on a state department tour.

Photo is dated 1962.

Photo measures 8 x 10 inches.