852.2221/1246: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France
B–464. Your 550, October 31, 1 p.m. I do not want you to approach the Burgos authorities with any proposal for exchange of Americans for equal number of Italians, as any proposal for exchange of prisoners must come from one side or the other and cannot be initiated by us.
What I had in mind in B–463, October 29, 3 p.m., was merely for you to take up informally with Franco authorities the question of release of all remaining American prisoners for return to the United States on the basis of the changed situation resulting from the Spanish Government’s declared withdrawal of all foreigners from its forces.