652.00/3116a: Circular telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France24
At my press conference this noon I made the following announcement:
“Since the outbreak of the civil strife in Spain, the American Government, both through statements of the Secretary of State in Washington and through representatives of the United States in Spain, has repeatedly and persistently urged all American nationals who could possibly do so to depart from Spain for places of safety. Because of the fact that there has been in many places an interruption of commercial transportation facilities, the American Government has provided naval vessels to furnish a means of transporting our nationals out of the danger zone. A number of other foreign governments have [Page 706] likewise provided naval vessels to remove their nationals from Spanish ports.
“Something over one thousand American nationals have been evacuated from Spain since the outbreak of the conflict. On September 1, 1936 our diplomatic and consular officers in Spain were instructed to make a final appeal to those American nationals remaining in their districts who could be reached to take advantage of the present facilities to be evacuated and to point out that the removal of the American naval vessels from Spanish waters was under consideration by this Government.
“There is no information to the effect that any of the Americans remaining in Spain either seek or desire to come out of Spain, except a group of one hundred, more or less, of destitute Americans and one or more small groups in the interior who are reported thus far to have been cut off from access to the seaports.
“In the circumstances, it is felt that a stage has been reached when the American naval vessels can be withdrawn from Spanish waters. The Navy Department has, therefore, issued instructions to our vessels in Spanish waters to depart to ports in nearby countries. Our naval vessels will not return to Spanish waters except upon call by our diplomatic and consular officers for the purpose of evacuating them or any of them if conditions became seriously dangerous, and also to evacuate the destitute Americans and those understood to be marooned in the interior who may later find their way to the seacoast.
“Our diplomatic and consular officers in Spain are rendering many services to Americans and are performing other important duties. It is desirable that they remain at their posts and continue to carry out their duties as long as they can safely do so. Since it is impossible to judge from this distance the danger to which any officer might be exposed, our officers in Spain have been given discretionary authority temporarily to close their offices and to depart to places of safety if in their judgment it should become unsafe for them to remain at their posts”.
- Sent also to the Embassy at Madrid and to all Consulates in Spain.↩