In 1980, on the 280th anniversary of his birth, both the American and Italian post office each dedicated a splendid commemorative stamp to Philip Mazzei, “the Italian hero who exported democracy to America.”

J.F. Kennedy, in his book “A Nation of Immigrants” ( Harper & Row, New York), on pages 15 and 16 wrote: “The great doctrine All men are created equal, attributed in the Declaration of Independence to Thomas Jefferson, was taken from the writings of Philip Mazzei, a patriotic native Italian writer who was a close friend of Jefferson’s.”