711.52/326c: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)

776. Personal for the Ambassador. Supplementing the Department’s 750, January 29, midnight, and with further reference to your telegram no. 768, January 28, 2 p.m.,49 there is quoted below excerpts from telegraphic instructions sent by Mr. Eden to the British Ambassador at Madrid on January 19 as contained in a memorandum50 given the Department by the British Embassy here:

“I am also anxious that decision to suspend oil shipments to Spain shall take effect as soon as possible. When you have seen Franco and the Spanish Government have become aware that oil shipments have been suspended it will probably be necessary for me to make a further statement about our relations with Spain.”

The above quotation, as you will note, is quite clear and makes your telegram concerning Mr. Eden’s reaction the more difficult to understand, particularly as Mr. Eden apparently contemplated a statement of his own on the subject.

Hull
  1. Telegram 768 not printed; in it Ambassador Winant stated that Mr. Eden felt that the suspension of oil shipments was contrary to the united economic front theory hitherto followed with regard to Spain (852.6363/1267).
  2. Not printed.