Appeasement's End?

Back when the war was only a threat and appeasement was a strange new word, the name of Sir Samuel Hoare was a Symbol of abasement before fascism. As Britain's Foreign Secretary in 1935, he joined Laval in a deal to throw Ethiopia to Mussolini. As First Lord of the Admiralty in 1937, he helped throttle Republican Spain, thus paving the way for Franco. He applauded Munich loudly. Just before the fall of France he presented his credentials to Francisco Franco, became His Majesty's Ambassador to Spain. In Madrid he gave embryonic Falange salutes and watched the fruits of appeasement ripen and fall.

Last week Sir Samuel flew to La Corufia with a stern warning for fat Franco. The time had come, Sir Samuel said, for the Caudillo to abandon his pro-Axis nonbelligerency, begin to think and act like a neutral. Sir Samuel added that the U.S. had full knowledge of his visit and message. In Franco's villa at Pazo de Leiras, outside La Corufia, Sir Samuel listed Britain's demands:

>No more relaying to Berlin of reports on Allied convoys passing Gibraltar.

>No more permits to German bombers to cross Spain, attack ships off Portugal.

>No more Spanish troops to the Russian front; withdrawal of the "Blue Division."

>No more anti-U.S. propaganda in South America.

Sir Samuel bowed, strode out, returned to Madrid, where he prepared for a trip to London. If he had Franco's answer, he gave no sign.

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