Knocking on America's door. Basque Foreign Politics in the US during the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War (1936-1945)

David Mota Zurdo

doi:10.1387/hc.20374

Abstract

Este artículo analiza la denominada estrategia atlantista y cómo fue puesta en práctica por el Gobierno Vasco en el exilio a través de dos grandes etapas: por un lado, las actividades de la delegación del Gobierno Vasco en Nueva York durante la Guerra Civil española, atendiendo a su origen, composición, actuación y relación con instituciones norteamericanas como la National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC), el Departamento de Estado y sus diferentes agencias. Y, por otro, se estudian las labores de lobbying vascas durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Un periodo clave, pues, como se verá en las siguientes páginas, durante aquellos años se produjo una colaboración efectiva entre las instituciones vascas y las agencias estadounidenses de la Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), la Office of Coordinator of Information (COI), la Office of Strategic Services (OSS) y el Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Highlights

This article will reconstruct the process through which the Atlanticist strategy was elaborated and put into practice by the Basque government during exile; in other words, how the latter sought a preferential relationship with the US government as a way of recovering its sovereignty over Basque territory
This article analyzes the so-called Atlanticist strategy and how was put into practice by the Basque government-in-exile trough two major periods: on the one hand, the Basque government delegation’s activities in New York during the Spanish Civil War; it seeks to understand its origin, composition, behavior and relationship with American institutions–such as the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the State Department and its different agencies. It studies Basque lobbying activities during the Second World War. This was a key period since, as it will be shown in the forthcoming pages, during those years there was an effective collaboration between Basque institutions and certain pivotal American agencies, namely, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the Office of Coordinator of Information, the Office of Strategic Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
This article analyzes two major periods: on the one hand, the Basque government delegation’s activities in New York during the Spanish Civil War; it seeks to understand its origin, composition, behavior and relationship with American institutions–such as the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC) and the State Department and its different agencies. It studies Basque lobbying activities during the Second World War (WW2). This was a key period since, as it will be shown in the forthcoming pages, during those years there was an effective collaboration between Basque institutions and certain pivotal American agencies, namely, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI), the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Summary

Introduction

This article will reconstruct the process through which the Atlanticist strategy was elaborated and put into practice by the Basque government during exile; in other words, how the latter sought a preferential relationship with the US government as a way of recovering its sovereignty over Basque territory. A three-sided game that took place at a key moment, firstly, because during that summer, United States and Great Britain had signed the Atlantic Charter with the objective of working jointly in order to achieve a durable peace that would respect the rights of all people to choose their own form of government (a fundamental political principle which Basques could use in the future); and, secondly, because in December 1941 the Japanese Imperial army attacked the naval base in Pearl Harbor, which triggered America’s involvement in WW245 It seemed, under those circumstances, that the international context favored Basque interests, who were striving to win support from the US. If the State Department had initially tried to distance itself from any official relation with minor institutions, once USA entered the war, Roosevelt’s Administration became more willing to listen to all sorts of collaboration offers Aguirre seized this opportunity and introduced himself as the charismatic leader of a political organization that was deeply inserted in Latin America and with high influence capacity over Latin American Catholicism. To American intelligence services in order to help them counteract fascist propaganda in America’s backyard

The BIS: the tip of the balance in Basque pro-US politics during WW2

Conclusions