Office of the Historian

811.34553B/35: Telegram

The Minister in Portugal (Norweb) to the Secretary of State

Lisbon, December 2, 1943—noon.
[Received 2:31 p.m.]

2906. For the Secretary, the Under Secretary and Matthews. Kennan saw Salazar again yesterday morning. Salazar’s general position on the Azores bases as it developed from this conference can be summarized as follows:

(a)
He is not prepared to grant facilities outright to United States as long as he is trying to remain neutral.
(b)
He is not willing at this time to grant further facilities to the British for use either by them or ourselves under article VIII of the British Agreement but will be so willing whenever it can show to his satisfaction that the general war situation has undergone a marked change and that danger to Portugal from Germany has decreased as compared with the past August.
(c)
He is willing to go the limit in making possible our immediate use of existing British facilities provided external appearance of adherence to existing British agreement is maintained.
(d)
He showed a willingness to consider arrangements which would permit us to undertake at once construction of a new airport on Santa Maria Island for the account of the Portuguese Government, leaving open for the moment the question of its use but with a view to its eventual assignment for Anglo-American use as mentioned in (b).

Details concerning the above points will go forward in another message together with certain specific recommendations for further action.

To us this means that we have gotten not only the camel’s head but a large portion of his remaining anatomy into the tent and I think we should exploit this opening to the utmost.

Norweb