Foes to Friends. Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom from the Civil War to the Cold War

Was Franco’s Spain really a pariah in the Anglosphere?

This book examines pro-Francoism and the significant influence of a ＂Spanish lobby＂ in shaping US and British policy towards Spain during the Second World War and the years leading up to the Pact of Madrid in 1953. This lobby included not only pressure groups but also legislators and members of the executive as well as the armed forces, who shared economic and strategic interests and ideological sympathies in the growing anti-Communist atmosphere of the First Cold War.

The first two chapters provide the historical background to this rapprochement, examining monetary and credit policies in the United States and Spain during the 1930s and 40s, focusing in particular on the key roles played by American financial and business sectors, including Chase National Bank, to further the clandestine economic activities of US state companies and agencies in Spain during the Second World War. The book then turns to the role of the Spanish lobby in post-war US-Spanish diplomatic relations, looking at American individuals directly courted by the Spanish embassy in Washington as well as pro-Francoist congressmen who favored a closer relationship with Spain. The next chapter moves from Washington and New York to the West Coast to analyze local Spanish consular efforts to ’normalize’ Spain in the eyes of the United States. Finally, the book turns to British relations with Spain during and after the Second World War and shows how the government’s dependency on the US led to Britain becoming the junior partner in the formulation of Western policy towards Franco.