771.00/5–752
Memorandum by Mary G. Crain of the Office of African Affairs to the Officer in Charge of North African Affairs (Cyr)
Subject:
- United States Interests in International Zone of Tangier.
The interests of the United States in the International Zone of Tangier are entirely political and arise from the strategic position of the Zone in the world at large, and its special status in Morocco. Trade with the United States and American economic investments there are negligible, which is inevitable because of the size of the Zone (144 square miles).
Tangier occupies the northwest corner of Africa, within the Moroccan Empire, where the Straits of Gibraltar join the Atlantic Ocean. The Power or Powers controlling it are, therefore, in a position to prevent rather easily the passage of ships between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and to cut off the shortest sea route between the Western Hemisphere and the United Kingdom on the one hand and the Near East and South Asia on the other. This fact has long been recognized, and underlay the jockeying between various European Powers for possession of the area which led finally to the international agreements which established the neutrality of the Zone and its international administration. Although the advent of aerial navigation has decreased the relative strategic value of Tangier, its power over Atlantic—Mediterranean sea traffic mentioned above remains undiminished.
Although the United States has from its beginnings maintained a special position and friendly ties with Morocco, it is only since the end of World War II and the assumption of an increased role in the Mediterranean that we have taken an active part in the affairs of Tangier. This increased interest was evinced by our acceptance of the invitation extended to the United States by the United Kingdom and France to participate in the provisional administration set up in 1945. Our participation in the administration affords us the opportunity to [Page 190] exercise a certain amount of authority in the affairs of the Zone, and constitutes a recognition by the other Powers involved that the United States has assumed a more active position in the area.
The international administration of the Zone, together with the special rights of the United States in Morocco, make it possible for us to maintain our prestige, which is under more or less constant attack in the French Zone. An American School has been established in Tangier, which is looked upon with great favor by native Moroccans, and which is an excellent means of putting across American ideas. These factors also make it possible for us to use the Zone with practically no restraints as a telecommunications base. Two American companies2 operate relay stations there, on which our radiotelecommunications with the greater part of the Eastern Hemisphere (except the Far East) depend, and one of the more important relay stations of the Voice of America is located there.
- Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company and the Radio Corporation of America.↩