711.00111 Lic. Dineley, R. L./14/52
Memorandum by the Chief of the Office of Arms and Munitions Control (Green)
In compliance with instructions received, Mr. Dunn28 of WE called the Spanish Embassy by telephone this afternoon. He ascertained that the Ambassador was absent in New York and was not expected to return to Washington until tomorrow. He therefore spoke to Señor Dr. Don Enrique Carlos de la Casa, Counselor of the Embassy, and asked him to come to his office this afternoon. By pre-arrangement, I was in Mr. Dunn’s office when Señor de la Casa called.
We told Señor de la Casa that Mr. R. L. Dineley29 had applied for nineteen licenses to export arms to Spain to the value of $4,507,050. We said that the licenses would be issued this afternoon. We said that we had every reason to believe that Congress would, within the next day or two, enact legislation which would prohibit the exportation of arms to Spain and that, if such legislation were enacted, the licenses which would be issued to Mr. Dineley this afternoon would be revoked. We told Señor de la Casa that, in these circumstances, we felt that courtesy required that we should inform the Embassy of the facts in order that it might be understood that, if any monies were paid over to Mr. Dineley, it was highly probable that he would not be able to deliver the arms for which he might be paid.
Señor de la Casa thanked us for the information. He said that he intended to meet at the airfield this afternoon the Spanish Ambassador to Mexico, who was arriving in Washington by plane, and that he would give him the information which he had received from us.