Mar. 27, 1963 | JFK Greets King Hassan II of Morocco

Mar. 27, 1963 - King Hassan II of Morocco arrived today for a two-day state visit with President Kennedy and received one of Washington’s most festive spring welcomes. The President, Mrs. Kennedy, and a host of dignitaries greeted the young African monarch at Union Station. The two leaders then followed a military parade up Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, and finally to Blair House, the Presidential guest quarters. Thousands thronged the sidewalks for the first big diplomatic parade of the spring, cheering as the President and King drove past in an open-top limousine. The President was tanned and smiling as he waved to the crowds. Both leaders were bareheaded and neither wore a topcoat despite a gusty breeze that flapped red, white, and blue flags strung on lampposts. In his opening greeting at the station, President Kennedy told the 33-year-old monarch he hoped the visit would be as “fruitful and beneficial as the visit of your illustrious father” — the late Mohammed V, who visited the U.S. in 1959.

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