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Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
I received a Delegation representing the Washington Friends of Spanish Democracy, which is affiliated with the Medical Bureau and North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy. Since the Loyalist Government in Spain split into two factions headed respectively by Negrin who retained the support of the Communists, and by the military Junta under Generals Miaja and Casado, the organizations in America favoring the Spanish Loyalist cause have likewise split. In any event the Delegation this afternoon, headed by Mr. Berrall and Mr. Lamberton, was much exercised by a charge, contained in an article in the New York Times Sunday written by Axelsson, that the military Junta had imprisoned some 10,000 Communists with a view to handing them over to General Franco. They said they had every reason to suppose the report was true and asked that this Government intervene to save their lives.
I replied that from the beginning of the conflict the policy of this Government had been complete non-intervention in the Spanish conflict; that we had not endeavored to make representations on behalf of any group or faction; that we had refused asylum in our Embassy or Consulates to sympathizers of either side; and that despite the occasional disappointment of partisans our officials and our Government had won the respect of all Spaniards for complete impartiality and square dealing. It was by building up this very feeling that we had been so successful in protecting American interests which were our primary concern. We were not unmindful of the dictates of humanity, but we could not become embroiled in Spanish politics. As a matter of fact, the requests of the Delegation today was less a censure of Franco than it was a censure on the present military Junta.
[Page 768]The Delegation said they would be somewhat relieved if they could obtain confirmation as to whether the charges were well founded or not. I told them that I saw no harm in asking the Consul at Valencia to comment on them, even though he was not in Madrid and I doubted whether he would be able to judge more than the local situation. In any event my understanding was that a vast number of Spanish Loyalist leaders had successfully left Spain, for the most part destined for Algiers.
This, according to the Delegation, raised a second question: Whether the United States could supply shipping for Spanish refugees to Latin America. I replied that the matter had not reached serious proportions but that it involved (a) negotiations by someone with the Latin American countries of reception; (b) a selection of those refugees among the many thousands from Spain who would be given first chances at immigration; and (c) far more in the way of financing than I thought they had any idea of (as a matter of fact I learned that at the very time I was receiving this Delegation Mr. Jay Allen was elsewhere in the Department with a Spaniard, Constancia de la Mora, urging that America assume the burden of transporting these Spaniards47).
The third point the Delegation wished to bring up was an urgent appeal that this Government do not recognize the government of General Franco on the theory that the situation in Spain and the situation in Czechoslovakia were exactly parallel. I replied that they were getting into the realm of high policy and that some two weeks ago the Secretary of State had said that he was studying the matter but that no decision would be made until every angle had been explored.
P. S. Some hours after the interview recorded above, the Spanish Embassy notified us that they had officially brought the Axelsson report to the knowledge of their Government, which had authorized them to give a complete denial. In fact, they maintained that they had been concentrating all their efforts in attempting to negotiate for the safety of these very lives, as well as for all human life. I asked Mr. Wendelin to telephone this to Mr. Berrall,—who agreed that in the circumstances we could not question their official statement.
P.M.