ABSTRACT
As observed, the pace of industrialization in Spain was very limited until the early 1950s. Raw materials and foodstuff shortages and an inadequate supply of energy made for a very slow industrial development. The Second World War and the subsequent United Nations boycott of Spain impeded the rapid restoration of productive capacities to their pre-Civil War levels, and in many industrial sectors those levéis were regained only in the early 1950s. Industrial recovery was facilitated by the resumption of diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States in December of 1950; it was foliowed by an American loan of $62.5 million in 1951 and by the extension to Spain of substantial economic aid under the terms of the Spanish-American Pact of Madrid of 1953, generally known as the ‘Bases Agreement’. This agreement allowed the United States to build air bases in Spain which strengthened the ability of the American Strategic Air Command to strike at targets within the Soviet Union; these bases were located at Torrejón de Ardoz, Zaragoza and Morón; the United States also received a major naval base at Rota and about thirty other minor military installations. The construction of these bases, which lasted from 1954 to 1960, brought a major initial inflow of foreign capital into posM939 Spain. Much of the construction work was subcontracted to Spanish firms and all of the labor employed in building the bases was Spanish. As a quid pro quo, the United States extended economic aid to Spain under the Mutual Security Program which by the end of 1962, when this aid was ended, amounted to about US$1.2 billion (Welles, 1965, p. 311). This aid provided Spain with foodstuffs, industrial raw materials and capital equipment. Seventy percent of the $1.2 billion took the form of grants, the balance being made up by loans repayable in Spanish currency. Part of the $1.2 billion was constituted by an Export-Import Bank loan of $100 million, which was repayable in dollars, and which was granted to finance the acquisition of new equipment by Spanish industrial enterprises; for instance, $4.4 million was used by Spain for the purchase of American rolling-mill equipment for the steel plant at Avilés. Loans were also extended by the United States to Spain under Public Law 480; these loans allowed Spain to import foodstuffs from the United States and to pay for them in pesetas. The Spanish currency proceeds of these purchases were then transformed into long-term loans which the Spanish government could use to finance internal development projects. 1
