From Immigrant to Ambassador: My American Journey

Dressed in tails, white tie and matching gloves while sitting in a gilded seventeenth-century carriage drawn by six horses and attended by liveried coachmen, footmen and horse-mounted royal guards, Eduardo Aguirre could hardly believe he was about to present his diplomatic credentials to Spain’s King Juan Carlos I. And this after meeting with President George W. Bush just a few weeks earlier! Only in the United States could a boy rise from immigrant to ambassador.

Aguirre’s fascinating memoir recalls his carefree, happy childhood in Cuba, the onset of the revolution and his parents’ painful decision to send him alone to the United States after his involvement in a counterrevolutionary youth movement jeopardized his safety. Fifteen-year-old Eduardo had one thin dime in his pocket when he arrived in Miami in December 1961, one of the “Operación Pedro Pan” children sent with clandestine help from the US government and the Catholic Church. Despite his often-dire circumstances—lack of money to support himself, inability to manipulate the English language well and even witnessing a sexual abuser at one of the church-run homes in New Orleans—Aguirre maintained a positive attitude and worked hard to succeed. Along the way, he met and married another Cuban exile, raised a family and had a long and respected corporate career in banking.

A gifted storyteller, Aguirre recounts numerous behind-the-scenes anecdotes about his time as a member of the Bush administration, including being vetted for his presidential appointments and the Senate confirmation hearings for his roles as the acting chairman and CEO of the Export Import Bank of the United States, the first director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services following the 9/11 attacks and the US Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. This engaging autobiography by an accomplished US citizen sheds light on politics during the Bush presidency and his attainment of the American Dream.