852.75 National Telephone Co./354: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Weddell)
51. Your 87, April 18, 8 p.m.77 For your information the Spanish Ambassador called at the Department yesterday to discuss “the details” of the Telephone Company case. He said that as the matter had been handled entirely in Spain he was unfamiliar with the substance of our complaints. His Government had sent him a telegram stating that the only subject at issue between the Company and the Spanish Government was a question of the removal of six or eight American employees because of activities deemed hostile to the present regime during the Spanish civil conflict.
The Ambassador was informed that while there has in fact been considerable discussion on this point, it was definitely a subsidiary issue and one believed capable of easy settlement. The Ambassador was told that the cardinal point at issue between our two Governments was the failure of the Spanish Government to return the management of its properties to the Telephone Company under the terms of the contract with the Spanish State, and he was urged to emphasize this point to his Government.
- Not printed.↩