852.48/243
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
The Spanish Ambassador called this morning and spent an hour with me.…
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(3) The Ambassador then turned to the question of relief, and asked me whether any results had been obtained following his approaches to Mr. Welles. I gave him the main outline of the story to date and pointed out that we seemed to have struck a snag, at least in so far as dealing with the Red Cross was concerned. I said that this snag was due, in large part, to the expenses of transportation of supplies, and asked whether his Government could perhaps assume this expense. He said that he thought this was possible, though it would be preferable to have the shipping under a foreign flag even if chartered by the Spanish authorities. The Spanish Flag could not go through the Straits of Gibraltar. He also said that the greatest need was not in the Madrid area, but in the Catalonian area, where there were a million and a half refugees. He wondered whether or not the Red Cross would be willing, in case the various organizations collecting funds and supplies for Loyalist Spain were to pool their resources under the Red Cross, to administer this relief. He felt that in order to avoid criticism, administration of relief by a great national group was essential. The only difficulty that he foresaw was that if such an arrangement were made that proportion should be expended in Loyalist Spain as would be contributed by the organizations created for that purpose.
I told the Ambassador that this was a new thought which I would talk over with Mr. Swift44 when he returned next Monday. He ought to bear in mind, however, (1) that the Red Cross was not under the orders of the Government, and that the most we could do was to urge a certain course of action; (2) the other was that the Red Cross had certain very definite policies with regard to its relations with other organizations.
The Ambassador asked whether the President was interested in this subject. I told him that as far as I knew the President had been given by Mr. Welles a memorandum pointing out (a) the Ambassador’s [Page 368] request, (b) our feeling that, if possible, it should be complied with, and (c) the difficulties (apparently insuperable) thus far faced by the Red Cross. The Ambassador said that as soon as the President returned he was going to ask for an interview as time was pressing.
- Vice Chairman in charge of foreign operations of the American Red Cross↩