A day of R&R; for Mickey & Miguel

April 14, 1957: The Organization of American States’ 21 ambassadors and secretary-general observed Pan American Day at Disneyland, capping an eight-day visit to California. “They reacted as children of all ages on their trip through Disneyland, oohing and ahing as they rode the mine train through the cave of fluorescent falls -- laughing at the tricks of the Jungle Boat trip -- enjoying with uninhibited satisfaction the stern-wheeler Mark Twain, the Trip to the Moon, Adventure, Frontier and Fantasy Lands,” The Times reported. At a luncheon, Luis Quintanilla, Mexican ambassador to the OAS, said to Walt Disney, “We salute you, Emperor Walt the First.” Quintanilla praised Disney movies and criticized other films that “specialize in sex appeal and muscle, kissing and fighting,” The Times said. The OAS representatives’ trip to California was one of a series of state visits organized “in an effort to promote person-to-person contacts between the United States and its southern neighbors,” the newspaper said.