The 1953 Eisenhower-Franco Treaty

Ok guys....

In 1953 a bi-lateral defense agreement was signed by Spain,then under the rule of  the dictator Genral Francisco Franco and the US,then under the rule of Eisenhower administration. Hence I wanted to title this treaty as the Eisonhower-Franco Treaty.

The agreement granted the United States the use of a network of air bases,naval  stations,pipelines and communication facilities in Spain in exchange for a 226+ million package of military and economic assistance. It was immediately criticized within the United States and by U.S allies in europe giving Franco legitimacy and material support just as other states were trying to excldue his regime from international institutions such as the UN and NATO. U.S officials long insisted  that the U.S military presence in Spain did not imply official support for his regime. But the Spanish politicians who succeeded Franco after hsi death in 1975 accused washington of having tacitly condoned his repressive policies and his secrecy.

Now under the light of historicakl evidence,can we argue that this treaty might  be counted as a direct slap in the face of those American patriots,who constantly argue that the U.S always backed up democracies and democratization?

what are your thoughts on bilateral relations of The U.S and Franco's Spain?

US would work whomever its profits go on with, looks more to that instead of the regimesAnd I am sure that US would prefer a Franco regime to a leftist republican regime like it was between 1931 and the civil war.

I agree with Pikeshot1600 in this case.Realistic treaty for US to provide security of the Meditarranean,and also works well with the English for the protection of Gibraltar, which is still a very important base.

 

A little out of topic, not trying to be a US-Basher, but is almost impossible not to mention that the US-England and France did not anything to support to the spaniard republican refugees after the defeat of the Spaniard Republic at hands of the Nacionalistas supported by the Germans and Italians.

The French goverment put to the spaniard refugees into concentration camps ( on the strict use of the word , do not confusse with the extermination camps ).

Gen Lazaro Cardenas issued orders to the mexican ambassador in Paris to settle the transportation from France into Mexico of no less than 30,000 spaniard refugees.

The " democracies " were too affraid of the spaniard communist to grant them assylum.

Originally posted by pikeshot1600 In the 1930s it was a tough call who was considered worse, communists or fascists.  I don't think the democracies would have wanted the survivors whoever they were. Jalisco, is that why Trotsky felt safe in Mexico?

Trotsky lived in Prince Islands of Istanbul for a few years, but Turkish government couldn't handle him anymore out there due to pressure from Soviets.

Originally posted by Jalisco Lancer A little out of topic, not trying to be a US-Basher, but is almost impossible not to mention that the US-England and France did not anything to support to the spaniard republican refugees after the defeat of the Spaniard Republic at hands of the Nacionalistas supported by the Germans and Italians. The French goverment put to the spaniard refugees into concentration camps ( on the strict use of the word , do not confusse with the extermination camps ). Gen Lazaro Cardenas issued orders to the mexican ambassador in Paris to settle the transportation from France into Mexico of no less than 30,000 spaniard refugees. The " democracies " were too affraid of the spaniard communist to grant them assylum.

True. Yet the Spanish refugees were the backbone of the so-called "French Resistence".

One important thing: the fascist faction is never called "nacionalistas", as that name is reserved normally for minoritary nationalists such as Basques, Catalans or Galicians. Spanish fascists called themselves "nacionales" but never "nacionalistas". Republicans called them simply "fascistas" or "fachas" (abreviation of fascista but also meaning "face" in slang, what in Spanish may have the meaning of "hypocrite").