SPAIN: Man in a Sweat

(3 of 5)

Then a change came o'er the spirit of his dream, and made itself felt in his speeches. From confidently predicting Axis victory he fell to talking gloomily of a six-or seven-year war to the death, then (last May) to calling for peace. The invasion and cleanup of Africa gave Spain a close and eye-popping demonstration of Allied power. On Oct. 1, speaking before the Falange, he omitted the ringing Spanish phrase for "nonbelligerency," used in its place a calm, almost Swiss formula: "vigilant neutrality."

Pointed Pressure. Aside from military events, hard economic facts have made their imprint on Spanish policy. The civil war hurt Spain badly, cost her 1,200,000 lives, left her agriculture and industry crippled. Spain had desperate need of grain, petroleum and cotton. Germany could give her none of these, nor anything else of immediate value. Britain and the U.S. could arrange the matter. For a time the products were granted to Spain in a process which seemed to be appeasement at its unprofitable worst. But somewhere along the line British and U.S. negotiators seem to have learned the technique of horse trading. London sources last week guardedly admitted that the U.S. Oil Allocation Board and the British Ministry of Economic Warfare have finally maneuvered themselves into key positions in Spain's large-scale economic life.

Thus, for many months, inexorable economic pressure has been shifting Spain's alignment from the Axis to the Allies. There was no question of a choice for Franco, nor has he made any choice. But in the process: Spain has kept strictly hands-off the Allied invasion of Africa; the Falange press and radio have steadily toned down, and at times stifled their anti-Allied ravings; Franco's "Blue Division" has been gradually reduced and withdrawn from Russia; Spain has virtually halted all supply to Germany.

For "security reasons," other instances of Spanish courtesy to the Allies cannot be published. But Spanish newspapers now publish Allied war communiques, Allied war photographs; the radio carries advertisements of American goods. In a recent test of strength the Allies "persuaded" Franco to clear Axis shipping spies out of Tangier on the North African coast.

For better or worse, Spain has been forced to turn almost full-circle, from outright pro-Axis alignment, to neutrality, to dependence on Allied good will. Franco is still a Fascist. But he is not the Franco of 16 months ago; he is a man on a spot, compelled to look at the growing certainty of Allied victory, compelled to find, if he can, a way to save his Fascist skin.

Dictator's Beginnings. The U.S. once had a remarkable effect upon the remarkable life of Francisco Franco. Born in El Ferrol, Spain's great naval base, in 1892, Franco was the son of a naval officer, destined for a naval career.