Spain and the Renewed Cold War:

...On May 17 he made a speech in Gerona in which he defended the U-2 flights...

...Seeking to justify two decades of authoritarian rule, he said: "In the present grave situation confronting the world, and in the resulting need to counter the threats and dangers looming on the horizon, political systems which weaken authority and order have no place...

...The conviction is widespread that pilot Francis Powers' mission on May 1 was actually to bring his U-2 down in the heart of the Soviet Union to impress on the Russian people the extent of American power and capabilities...

...The attitude in high quarters here is that the U-2 incident is heartening evidence of American capabilities to penetrate the Iron Curtain and not, as President Eisenhower said in his message to Franco, an occurrence "regrettable in the extreme...

...The colder the wind blows from Russia, the better Franco's bargaining position becomes...

...How far will threats and insolence go...

...By Richard Scott Mowrer Spain and the Renewed Cold War Franco's position depends on continued East-West crisis MADRID OF ALL THE countries where the United States has air bases from which a nuclear attack might be launched against the Soviet Union, Spain is the least perturbed by the U-2 incident and the collapse of the summit conference...

...In view of the importance to Western defense of the American bases here it was perhaps good policy to flatter Spain's yearning for unconditional acceptance as a member in good standing of the free world by giving Franco a person-to-person fill-in on the U-2 and Paris events...

...What is this defensive foresight when compared to the permanent espionage and subversion activity against the internal peace of other nations carried on by Soviet embassies or legations, or when compared with the continuing activity of the Comin-form...

...Nervousness among Spaniards over the turn of events is the exception rather than the rule...

...But the "let-me-explain" theme of the message seemed oddly irrelevant to the Spanish mood...

...Observers were surprised a few days later by President Eisenhower's message to Franco, dispatched during the President's Portuguese visit...

...People are particularly impressed by the revelation that U-2 planes have been flying over the Soviet Union for the past four years...

...Spain's Caudillo went on to exploit for domestic purposes the revived international tensions...

...There was no need here of special Presidential justification of the American position on the U-2 issue...

...In fact, Generalissimo Francisco Franco came close to out-doing Washington in vindicating and justifying the U-2 reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union...

...Navy to serve as a supply center for the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean...

...Like the air bases, Rota is under Spanish sovereignty but it is essentially an American installation in the functional sense...

...The Franco regime's official line is complete and solid backing of the West and unreserved approval of the United States' position...

...In addition, there is a large naval base at Rota, near Cadiz, built by the U.S...

...It must be remembered that the Franco regime owes much, including possibly its survival, to the fact of the cold war, for it was the cold war combined with the Communist invasion of Korea in 1950 that enabled the regime to make the switch from survival to revival...

...This had been made clear three days previously by Franco in his Gerona speech...

...Politics must be revised to make democracy more sincere so that the unity and internal cohesion of peoples shall not be destroyed...

...He said: "We hear that the world is upset because a plane, in peacetime, has flown over another country to obtain information...

...There is more relief than regret at the failure of the Paris conference, for the simple reason that the summit's loss is Franco's gain...

...The Strategic Air Command possesses three big bomber bases here, jointly operated with the Spanish in theory but in fact operated almost wholly by Americans...

...Generally, there is support for the American position in the current crisis...

...Without the cold war there would have been no need for American bases here, and Spain would not have received the volume of economic aid from the United States it sorely needs...