Not many people know that US government officials and employees are not allowed to receive gifts or decorations from foreign governments without the approval of Congress. Gifts received or presented to the US president, for example, are registered for the approval of Congress and turned over to the State Department, which decides on its disposition. Most of these gifts end up in the US National Archives and are kept with presidential papers and memorabilia. All gifts are appraised and the president can only keep as “personal” something that goes below the minimum retainable value of around $335. A president who wants to take some of these gifts home when he leaves the White House is required to pay for it at market value and pay tax on it too!
This system may seem strange to Filipinos, but it makes clear that the president receives a gift from a foreign government in behalf of the people of the United States of America. A clear distinction is made between personal and official gifts.
This system goes a long way back in US history. I was elated to discover that the scholarly Thomas Jefferson turned over all the gifts he received as president, except books which he kept for his library and which eventually became the nucleus of the US Library of Congress.
Some of the gifts presented to presidents of the Philippines are on display in the Malacañang Museum. This reminded me of the gifts received by North Korea’s “Great Leader” which are stored in a huge museum carved out of a mountain outside Pyongyang. These state gifts are arranged according to country, encouraging visitors to compare and contrast. I remember being awed by a sterling silver tray presented by the US secretary of state, but that was before I was embarrassed when shown the Philippine section that boasted of a tacky capiz plate presented by then Speaker Jose de Venecia and a wood bahay kubo desk calendar and pen presented by the Communist Party of the Philippines. I felt the only thing missing in our display was either of the Baguio icons: the “man in the barrel” or the giant wood spoon and fork. With both we can boast of our manhood or give the impression that we are a nation of giants that need giant utensils. Of course, all these gifts were valuable in terms of sentiment or material and craftsmanship, but the best way for a country or a head of state to be remembered in Pyongyang is to present very tasteful or very tasteless presents.
When British Prime Minister Gordon Brow visited Washington in 2009, there was the obligatory exchange of gifts which the press noted. Brown presented US President Barack Obama with a set of books on Winston Churchill as well as a black and gold pen that came with a wood pen holder. This pen holder may have been small and simple, but it was not meaningless because great care went into the choice of this gift. The US president’s desk in the Oval Office was a gift of Queen Victoria to Rutherford Hayes in 1880 and was crafted from the remains of the HMS Resolute, which is why it is known today as the “Resolute Desk.” Its twin, which was kept by Queen Victoria, is now in Windsor Castle. The pencil holder presented to Obama was made from the timbers of another anti-slavery ship, HMS Gannet, and is worthy to be on the Resolute Desk.
Obama’s gift to Brown was a boxed 25-DVD set of the greatest American films, including “Gone with the Wind,” “ET” and “Psycho.” To make matters worse, the DVDs ran on a US system but were not compatible with British DVD players!
Transparency and the US Freedom of Information Act makes life easy for journalists and historians. Every year the State Department issues a list of all gifts received by government officials from the president down to minor functionaries. These gifts are sorted out according to giver, appraised, and the justification for acceptance usually states, “Non acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government.”
The 2009 list of gifts accepted by Obama is available online and, from this list, one can see the range of presents: the Brown gift mentioned above was appraised at $16,510, half the price of the gift presented by the King of Saudi Arabia which was “a large desert scene on a green veined marble base featuring miniature figurines of gold palm trees and camels; large gold medallion with the royal seal in a green leather display box; large brass and glass clock by Jaeger-Le Coultre in a green leather display case.” I was received in June 2009 and valued at $34,500. If you think that is excessive, First Lady Michelle Obama was presented by the Saudi king with a ruby and diamond set, consisting of earrings, ring, and bracelet and worth $132,000!
The cheapest gift on the Obama list was a bottle of olive oil presented by the Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and appraised at $75. This was not sent to the National Archives but was “handled pursuant to Secret Service Policy”—a diplomatic way of saying it was disposed of as are all gifts of food, liquids, and items applied to the skin.
One can say, “It’s the thought that counts” and that all gifts must be received with gratitude, be they big or small. But what did other heads of state give Obama in 2009? What did the Philippines present? That will be in another column.
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