852.48/781: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain (Weddell) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 18—2:05 a.m.]
652. My 636, November 12, 4 p.m. Just before leaving for France with the Foreign Minister (and without disclosing that proposed visit) the Chief of Protocol volunteered the information that my request of November 11 for an interview with the Chief of State was being handled exclusively by the Minister himself. It accordingly appears likely that the proposed interview must await the return of the latter, and I shall not, therefore, attempt meanwhile to press the matter with the Foreign Office.
However, I learn indirectly that the subject matter of my contemplated conference with Franco is being discussed in ministerial circles but that the requirement of a public declaration of Spain’s intention not to give aid to the Axis Powers is regarded as an almost insuperable stumbling block since such a declaration would in all likelihood provoke a situation with Germany which the Spanish Government would have infinite difficulty in meeting.