711.52/358: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Hayes)
458. Your 550, February 16, 10 p.m. Count Jordana’s attitude is not understood, especially in reiterating the assumption that Spain has done the United Nations a great service by not embarking on an aggression against the United Nations. It is not usual in the community of nations for a country to assume that it is rendering a great service to its neighbors by not attacking them. The fact is that by keeping outside the conflict Spain served her own best interests. Spain now has an opportunity to serve those interests again. In enunciating this theory Jordana implies that Spain has in the past constituted a threat to us. However true this may be, the Department is surprised that the Foreign Minister should find it so easy to confess this.
As you are aware from our previous telegrams, the Department does not accept Jordana’s absurd pretention that our unwillingness to consider his “formula” of issuing some public statement prior to Spanish agreement to a complete wolfram embargo places the responsibility for the present situation upon the United States. On the contrary it was the Spanish Government’s unwillingness to respond to our patient and reasonable requests left with Count Jordana 3 months ago that forced us, acting entirely within our rights, to reconsider our long-standing support of Spain’s economy. (Of course, once the Spanish Government has agreed to our requests, the Department will give sympathetic consideration to the issuance, prior to any publication of the arrangements agreed upon, of some such statement as Jordana suggests.)
You may inform Count Jordana that it is with keen disappointment and regret that we have read his message transmitted by you. There is no thought of “threatening” or “coercing” Spain in this matter but quite simply a strong conviction that we cannot justify making sacrifices to support Spanish economy in the absence of a willingness on the part of the Spanish Government to reciprocate our cooperative attitude; namely, to take the step entirely compatible with Spanish neutrality of declaring a permanent embargo on the exportation of wolfram [Page 344] to all countries. You may further say to him that there would appear to be no purpose in continuing what have so far proved fruitless discussions and that much to our regret we are compelled to postpone any consideration of the resumption of tanker loadings indefinitely unless the Spanish Government should change its views. If you so desire, you may add that there the matter rests and that for the moment no further public statement is contemplated. It would be unfair to Count Jordana, however, not to let him know that this question is one in which the American public and press is evincing considerable interest and we do not know how long their present patient attitude can be maintained. So far in answer to all inquiries, we have replied that the question is still under discussion; obviously we cannot continue to give this answer indefinitely.