Fillip for Franco

Ever since his great & good friends, Hitler & Mussolini, went down history's drain, Spain's Francisco Franco has suffered an international ostracism. In 1947, Argentina's Evita Perón broke into his loneliness with a spectacular visit. Last week it happened again—in double measure and double pleasure for Spain's plump dictator.

First, the U.S. Navy dropped in. Then came the wily Abdullah, King of Hashimite Jordan.

Yankee Ships. For the first time since before the Spanish civil war, a visiting squadron of four U.S. warships (cruisers Columbus and Juneau, destroyers Stribling and Bordelon) steamed into the harbor of El Ferrol, where Francisco Franco was born. While ships of the Spanish Navy fired a salute, the U.S. vessels dropped anchor. High-ranking Spanish officials climbed aboard the flagship Columbus to greet Admiral Richard Conolly, Commander in Chief U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. From then on, until the Americans left five days later, there was a round of receptions, dinners and ceremonies. U.S. sailors poured ashore to see the sights as far inland as Madrid and Toledo.

It was the first time in a generation that Spaniards had got a close look at U.S. uniforms. Said one Madrid housewife, no doubt thinking of her daily struggle with water and electricity shortages: "They must have plenty of maids on board those ships. How else do they keep so clean and their hats so white?" Added a Madrid girl: "Just like in the movies but much nicer and not so noisy."

Citizens gathered around the sailors in the streets and crowded quays, staring with awe at the U.S. men and warships. To pro-Franco folk the visit looked like a friendly gesture towards their leader. To anti-Franco folk the U.S. flag and sailors were a demonstration of a way of life for which they long.

The American tars were struck by a difference between Spain and other European points. There were no cries of "chicle, chicle" or "cigarette" that generally haunt the U.S. Navy elsewhere in foreign ports. "What's the matter with these fellows, anyhow?" asked Chief Warrant Officer Milburn ("Duke") Holmes of North Platte, Neb. "They won't accept our cigarettes and want us to smoke their smelly black tobacco. I haven't been able to pay for a glass of sherry in town—but they sure look as if they could use some extra money or some food."

The Falangist press did its utmost to emphasize that the naval call represented "the real feeling of U.S. public opinion toward Spain." An editorial in Juventad proclaimed: "American friends, we . . . have more reasons to hate you than to love you . . . But we can forgive all when he who has offended comes to us with a smile on his lips. In this case our pride gives way to simpatia, and we are ready to fraternize with our old enemy who is now our new friend."