881.00/8–1745: Telegram
The Ambassador in France ( Caffery ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 18—12:56 a.m.]
4986. From Villard. See Embtel 4922, August 14, 9 p.m. At yesterday’s session of Tangier Conference British delegation proposed in substitution of the Soviet proposal concerning Spain that the Conference make the following declaration.
“The Govt’s of the US of A, the UK, the USSR and France declare that Spanish participation in the provisional administration of Tangier does not imply in any sense a departure from the Potsdam Declaration of August 2, 1945 on Spain,63 but represents the sole practicable means in the present circumstances of taking into account the interests of the Spanish nation and people in the settlement of the Tangier question.”64
Soviet delegation as well as the French and ourselves agreed to submit the British proposal for consideration to our respective Govts. The Dept will observe that the formula introduced by the British is essentially the same as that submitted by us to Dept in the Embtel 4724 August 6. We feel that the Soviet delegation by agreeing to submit this proposal to Moscow displayed a more reasonable attitude in the matter of Spanish participation than had been expected. The French and British delegation advanced strong arguments for the inclusion of Spain in the provisional administration on practical grounds and these arguments seem to have made some impression on the Russians.
Repeated Tangier 39, Moscow 281, London 602, Madrid 321. [Villard.]