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The Link Is Established
On April 18, 1966, Mayor George Johnson of Saline extended an invitation to the Town of Brecon, Wales to become a sister city in the People-to-People Program established by President Eisenhower in 1956. Saline had been requested by the National League of Cities to affiliate with a city abroad of similar characteristics and mutual interest. Copies of this resolution were sent to the Mayor and Council of the Town of Brecon, the National League of Cities, the U.S. Department of State and the British Embassy.
Later that summer the Town Council of Brecon responded with its acceptance and the link was established. In October of 1966 the Saline Elementary Schools received a color sound film on Wales called "The Land of the Red Dragon", and Salinians got their first look at Wales.
The exact date of the acceptance by the Brecon Town Council is unclear but revisionist historians on both sides have decided that it must have been July 4, 1966. The Saline-Brecon twinning was the first sister city relationship between U.S. and Wales towns.
Next Page: The First Official Visits
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