852.00/9914a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Spain (Beaulac)
104. While our economic relations with Spain are important in connection with our political policy toward Spain it should not be overlooked by the Embassy in its reporting activities that it is the Spanish political situation in which the Department is primarily interested. It has been felt for some time that the best use has not been made of existing opportunities for observation and political reporting in the important field which Spain offers. The Department has been disappointed in not receiving a more thorough appraisal, for example, of the significance of the recent meeting in Seville.24
The difficulties in gathering information of political importance and of satisfactorily evaluating its reliability are not underestimated but the Department is under the impression that political reporting has not received deserved attention. It is hoped that the Embassy will make full use of its opportunities for observation and reporting of this character and that it will contrive to secure the full and timely cooperation of the various consular offices in Spain which have generally been delinquent in this respect. As regards our consular establishments, their summaries of business do not reveal a volume of routine activity large enough to justify this neglect.
- Meeting in February between the Spanish Chief of State, Gen. Francisco Franco, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Salazar.↩