364. Letter From the Ambassador to Spain (Lodge) to Secretary of State Rusk0
Dear Mr. Secretary: Before completing my duties as American Ambassador to Spain, one of the main tasks I set for myself was the preparation of the enclosed memorandum1 containing my colleagues’ and my latest thinking on one of the most important aspects of our task here as we see it—i.e., the future of US-Spanish relations. I am sending you a copy in the hope that you will give it consideration in formulating your views and policy in regard to Spain.
[Page 991]As I wrote to Secretary Herter last December,2 our relations with Spain have prospered greatly since our agreements were signed in 1953. They have prospered with the government, and they have also prospered with the people, who in general seem to have a natural affinity for “North Americans” just as most of us do for them. The big problem we still have to wrestle with is, of course, what will happen to our relations with Spain when Franco goes, and what we can do now to assure the best possible future in that respect.
Our paper comes up with some hard realities, which in our view need to be faced frankly. Some of these are: [7-1/2 lines of source text not declassified] will probably be more democratic but at the same time less friendly to the US than Franco has been for the very reason that, being more democratic, it will include and give expression to anti-US elements (i.e., many elements which are anti-Franco are also anti-US); 3) that while democracy as we know it does not seem practicable for Spain now, the development here of a stable form of government with a capacity for continuity is urgent [2 lines of source text not declassified] our main objective, which must be, as we see it, the furtherance of American national security, in the interests not only of the entire non-communist world of which we are the leader but also of the future of democracy itself.
I trust you will find this paper of interest and value. It has the unanimous support of the Country Team here in Spain.
I hope very much that when I am in Washington in a few weeks for debriefing I shall have the pleasure of seeing you.
With kind personal regards, Respectfully,