Author: Wayne H. Bowen

Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Published: 2017-03-31

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0826221173

"President Harry S. Truman harbored an abiding disdain for Spain and its government. During his presidency (1945-1953), the State Department and the Department of Defense lobbied Truman to form an alliance with Spain to leverage that nation's geostrategic position, despite Francisco Franco's authoritarian dictatorship. Truman's negative views on Spain developed from his Baptist upbringing and youth during the Spanish-American War and his first term in the US Senate. As a Freemason and Protestant, Truman struggled to overcome his bias against a regime that persecuted those with similar affiliations, and whose politics were set against the liberal democracy, the workers and farmers the "Man from Independence" championed throughout his career. The eventual alliance between the two countries came only after years of argument for such a shift by nearly the entire US diplomatic and military establishment. Truman begrudgingly accepted an agreement with the Spanish government after years of pressure, and with the overarching need for allies during the Cold War. This delay increased the financial cost of the 1953 defense agreements with Spain, undermined US planning for the defense of Europe, and caused dysfunction over foreign policy at the height of the Cold War. Truman never reconciled to this accommodation, continuing to consider Spain, its history, and culture with a mix of apathy and derision. This important book tells the story of Truman's hostility to Spain and its impact on this military, diplomatic, and commercial relationship, the history of the early Cold War, and the extent of presidential leadership in strategic foreign policy shifts."-- Inside jacket flap.