The United States, NATO and the Spanish bases, 1949-1989

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the victorious Allies, bowing to Soviet pressure, moved to isolate Franco's Spain. The Allies not only excluded Spain from the newly-created United Nations, but they caused the United Nations to blackball the country in 1946. During the following years of isolation, the United States continued to review its relations with Spain.; Spurred by worsening relations with the Soviet Union, the National Security Council concluded in early 1948 that United States political and military relations with Spain were unsatisfactory and that the United States should work towards improving them. The NSC concerns were reinforced by the Soviet blockade of Berlin, and in 1949 top United States service commanders found that military cooperation with Spain was vital to American defense. The State Department disagreed, holding it would be unwise to press for Spanish participation in the newly-formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization unless reasonably assured that all member nations would agree. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 brought the Spanish question into focus with the United States recognizing the strategic importance of the Iberian Peninsula and the need to reintegrate Spain into the West.; America had two paramount reasons for approaching Franco Spain: first, the Cold War had deeply immersed the United States in European affairs with such actions as the American occupation of West Germany, the Marshall Plan, and the Truman Doctrine; secondly, there were strategic factors that overrode any moral considerations. The United States military convinced President Harry S. Truman of Spain's strategic importance and potential military value against the growing Soviet threat. While the idea of any type of cooperation with Franco galled the president, he acquiesced and by 1952 formal negotiations with Franco were underway.; On September 26, 1953, the Pact of Madrid was signed between the United States and Spain. The United States bilateral negotiations with Spain and subsequent treaties were a small part of an overall United States involvement with the NATO Alliance. America's acceptance of the Franco dictatorship was the price it had to pay for NATO's defense during the Cold War era.