611 52/4–953: Telegram
No. 890
The Ambassador in Spain (Dunn) to the Department of State1
790. USNEG. I was received today at 12 o’clock noon by Chief of State. After receiving my letters of credence, we proceeded to small salon accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief of Protocol. Latter acted as interpreter during our talk.
I opened conversation by telling General I had just been in Washington for two weeks, that I had seen all officials of our government including President and that I could assure General that all officials of our new administration were well disposed toward Spain and were hopeful that we would be able to strengthen relations now existing between two countries and that we could move forward along lines of achieving our common objectives, preservation of peace and security of our two nations. I said that all American officials concerned with our relations with Spain were most anxious to be of help in improvement of these relations and would do best they possibly could within limits of our capabilities.
[Page 1930]General Franco then said that he was most happy to see President Eisenhower assume functions of Chief of State of United States, as he had highest regard and admiration for his ability and devotion to the cause of humanity. He said United States had become real defender of liberty and freedom of all those nations not under yoke of Soviet control and without generous devotion of our country to this cause there would be no hope for escape from Communist menace. He had greatest admiration for courage and tenacity with which United States was carrying out its role.
He said that Spain desired to align itself on side of those nations who were determined to maintain their national independence and they desired to achieve position of sufficient strength both militarily and economically to make their contribution to general defense. He then spoke of destruction country had suffered as a result of civil war. He said that at end of that struggle he had 1,200,000 under arms, fully trained and equipped at that stage of military development. Nation had made superhuman effort to reconstruct its damaged bridges, roads and buildings, but its resources were limited and it had not been able to do as much as desired or necessary.
He then referred to current negotiations for bases and said that in his original conversation with Admiral Sherman2 he had made clear desire of Spanish Government to enter into arrangement which would make it possible for Spain to play its proper role, not only in defense of its own territory, but outside its territory in case of Soviet aggression; its ability to play this role being dependent upon improvement in its economic and military situation. It was almost two years now since beginning of discussions with regard to American use of air and naval bases in Spain and he regretted very deeply that all this time had been lost. It was loss which was irreparable and period in which construction and improvement should have both been under way.
He felt there was great lack of understanding on our part of capabilities of Spain for contribution to defense effort. He said that American survey teams had come to Spain and, among other things, had estimated almost two years ago that 600 airplanes a year could be built in industrial centers of country, particularly Cataluna. He said this figure could now more nearly approach 1,000 a year. He said that Spanish factories were capable of building guns and other weapons as well as ammunition, not only for its own use but for use in United States or elsewhere. He said it was desired of Spanish military staff to adapt their military weapons to American design and particularly for use of American ammunition. These [Page 1931] great capabilities were all available and it seemed tragic to him they were not being made use of, particularly when he understood we had need of more production and were at present time placing orders in Europe for airplanes, weapons and ammunition. He said cost of production in Spain was lower than in most other countries and, incidentally, in case of air bases he understood cost of construction here would be less than in any other country where bases were now being constructed. He then referred to economic picture in Spain and pointed out how improvement in transportation facilities and communications could be benefit not only to Spain, whose requirements were not great but could be of great importance to defense of Europe in event of another war.
At this point General said that very fact of making arrangements with United States which would provide for establishment of air bases in Spain for our use would increase risks of becoming target for Soviet aggression, particularly by air as industrial plants in Barcelona and Cataluna were only 1,300 kilometers from Soviet bases in Hungary. Spaniards felt, therefore, while they were willing and anxious to arrive at arrangement with us for provision of bases, this should be done against background of improvement in Spanish position as regards their military and economic strength in order to support role they would be called upon to play in making their contribution in event of aggression.
General Franco said at this point that Soviet system had only one objective, whether directed by Lenin, Stalin or Malenkov; that objective was to amass greater military strength than that of any other nation or combination of nations and to carry out objective of imposing their will and domination upon all other nations through combination of locally established and directed Communist groups supported at appropriate time by efficient use of their military strength. He said, in his opinion, there would be no change in this general line of Soviet system. Spanish people, therefore, feeling that they were marked out as country against which Soviets had particular hatred, believed they would undoubtedly become one of the first targets and therefore were in great danger. I said, at this point, that all our countries were in danger and it was essential for us all to cooperate in facing common menace.
General Franco went on further to depict capabilities of Spanish territory both from point of view of air bases and naval bases, due to its geographic and strategic position, and said that he was in great hopes that our government under wise and informed direction of President Eisenhower, would recognize not only possibilities of Spanish situation but spirit of cooperation which existed here.
He said that what was needed was basis of mutual trust and confidence in going forward with our full and fruitful cooperation in [Page 1932] preparing for defense of our countries. He was sorry that some misunderstandings or lack of understanding in past have impeded proper progress which should have been made in these recent years to work closely together.
It was quite clear to me up to this point General had desired to set forth his ideas and convey to us his thinking on situation in our relations as it is at present. Up to this time he had done most of talking. In responding I said that we, too, regretted delays which had occurred in exchanges on subject of bases and that in recent months it had been necessary to await advent of new administration in order that whole situation could be re-examined and policy decisions arrived at in line with general policy of our new government. I said that this had now been done, that all those concerned in Washington had re-examined situation and had arrived at position which had recently been transmitted to Spanish Government without awaiting my arrival. General said here that, in his opinion, last position given by our government was even worse than position we had taken up to that time and that he felt that there was some lack of understanding on our part which, he hoped, could be cleared up in near future. I said that I was most anxious to go into whole situation with Spanish Government and that I had asked Foreign Minister if he would be good enough to sit down with me and have frank and full discussion of various phases of negotiation in order that we might have clear view of position of both sides and have full understanding and comprehension of difficulties and problems which were facing us on both sides.
I said that I could assure Generalissimo that President, Secretary of State and all officials responsible for our policy toward Spain were most anxious to be helpful and would fully support any measures which could be undertaken within limit of our ability to bring about consummation of proposed agreements with regard to bases and defense support. I said that limitation imposed upon our government in this manner resulted from very extensive obligations and commitments we had undertaken in various parts of world which we must carry out to best of our ability and I said, furthermore, it was policy of my government to reduce expenditures with view to effecting balancing of budget and in that objective they were most strongly supported by Congress.
I said that I was looking forward to devoting myself to close association with Foreign Minister in discussion of problems and that my government was most hopeful that, in arriving at an agreement on these arrangements, we would bring about new and important era in our relationship between United States and Spain.
General Franco then asked me to convey to President Eisenhower his deep respect and said again how happy he was to feel that [Page 1933] United States was being guided by great soldier and great statesman. I told General I was certain President would be most gratified to receive this message and that he would be particularly happy, also, to hear my report of General Franco’s assertion full cooperation of Spain in attaining our common objective.
While General Franco stated all above with great earnestness, tone of interview, which lasted fifty minutes, was entirely cordial and friendly.
- Repeated to Paris and London.↩
- For a record of this conversation, which took place on July 16, 1951, see Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. iv, Part 1, p. 832.↩