Setting the Record Straight On Allende, Once More

Wall Street Journal ^ | April 25, 2003 | MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

[Mister Magoo]

At 8:10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 1973 Chilean President Salvador Allende made a radio announcement that the Chilean navy had "isolated" the port city of Valpara

[csvset]

Thanks for the recommendations.

[curmudgeonII]

I don't blame Gens. Framco or Pinochet for anything they did. Indeed, I consider them both to be heroes...

Franco can only be regarded as a hero by comparing him with the alternative - a Communist government. Franco, evaluated by himself, was a cold-hearted butcher,and a follower of Mussolini and Hitler

[colorado tanker]

Allende's potential damage to Chile is worse than the real damage caused by Pinochet? This spin, in particular, I find sickening

You need to educate yourself about communism in the 20th Century. I would suggest the Black Book of Communism. The authors conservatively estimate that 80 to 100 million people died in the effort to establish communist states. The regrettable loss of life in the Allende coup would have increased a hundred-fold had Allende succeeded in taking Chile communist despite the fact a majority in Congress opposed such a move and he only received 36% of the vote. The moral equivelence for which you argue is not present in this case.

[Paulus Invictus]

Try finding "The Spanish Civil War" by Hugh Thomas. It's a pretty good look at the whole bloody affair. Interestingly, The US Govt. recognized the Franco regime immediately after the war in 1936, but it was Russia that refused to do so.

France (!) even returned all the material stolen by the Republican/commies including national art treasures taken from the Prado museum and much gold as well. Ironically, the national treasury, consisting of huge amounts of gold ingots, went to Russia and was, as far as I know, never returned. Commies are so trustworthy! (sarcasm)

[B-Chan]

Franco despised Hitler, although he was not above accepting the Führer's help against the communists. During World War II, Franco's neutral Spain served as a conduit for thousands of French Jews fleeing the deportation, and Franco steadfastly refused to allow Hitler access to Spanish resources and facilities throughout the war. As for his brutal repression of the remaining communists in Spain after the civil war: if you'd been in his shoes, you'd have done exactly the same thing.

Franco was no Fascist, at least not by the definition of Fascism established by il Duce; he was far too good a Catholic to have subscribed to the state-worshipping philosophy of the atheist Mussolini.

[headsonpikes]

And of course, 'Homage to Catalonia' by Orwell.

Gives an eye-witness narrative of the vicious communist infighting in Spain of the Republican side, and contains a remarkable account of Orwell's time in the trenches.

[headsonpikes]

Please excuse my ill-constructed sentence.

[BlueLancer]

There's never a Pinochet or Franco around when you need one.

[curmudgeonII]

Franco despised Hitler,

What on earth do you think Franco's Falange was, if not a direct copy of the Italian Fasciti and the German Nazis? The only advantage that Franmco had over the German and Italian dictators was that he [Franco] was astute enough not to drag Spain into World War II. Spain had enough damage to repair from the 1930's Civil War that he did not need to take any other militaristic ventures.

The rest of the Right wing dictator policies were copied rather scrupulously by Franco - a shut down of all opposition, even free speech, jailing and execution of Freemasons, concentration camps, execution of political opponents,etc.

[B-Chan]

What on earth do you think Franco's Falange was, if not a direct copy of the Italian Fasciti and the German Nazis?

A marriage of convenience between the Syndicalists of JONS and the Carlist-Integrists of the Requétes, both of which groups played vital roles in defeating the Stalinoids. The "Falangist" National Movement had nothing in common with the pagan, blood-and-soil socialism of the Nazi party, and little resemblance to the atheistic, imperialist state-worship of the Fascists under Mussolini. Being neither ideologue nor imperialist, Franco's goals were neither racial purity (the goal of the Nazis) nor empire (the goal of the Fascists) for Spain; he simply insisted that Spain survive as an organic and culturally Catholic entity, and the so-called Falange was merely his means to that end.

History has judged Franco harshly as a dictator who established a repressive police state, but in reality he was simply the only man with the courage to do what obviously had to be done to root out and destroy the filthy Republican regime, both during and in the years following the war. Despite his near-universal condemnation, however, he neither asked permission nor forgiveness of the world for doing his duty toward Spain, and I will always respect his memory for that.

As for his soul -- well, I'm sure our Lord will judge him justly.

[facedown]

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[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Alter Kaker]

Franco? I did not believe that fascism was conservative value. Perhaps you are on wrong site.

[Alter Kaker]

A marriage of convenience between the Syndicalists of JONS and the Carlist-Integrists of the Requétes, both of which groups played vital roles in defeating the Stalinoids.

All good except "Stalinoids" did not come into until after Franco start revolution. It is like blaming start of American Revolution on Hessians.

[Alter Kaker]

Franco despised Hitler.

Yes, in 1945 Franco woke up one morning and decided he had hated Hitler all time. Hatred here is so obvious.

[B-Chan]

“It is fashionable at the present time to dwell on the vices of General Franco and I am glad therefore to place on record this testimony to the duplicity of his dealings with Hitler... I shall presently record even greater services which... General Franco rendered to the Allied cause.”
-- Winston Churchill, writing in The Second World War, Volume II.

“However general history may judge him, in Jewish history, [Franco] shall certainly occupy a special place... Jews should honor and bless the memory of this great benefactor of the Jewish people...who neither sought nor reaped any benefit from what he did.”
--From a four page obituary in The American Sephardi Journal of the Sephardic Studies Program of Yeshiva University, volume IX, 1978.

James Michener in Iberia, 1968, page 547: "...Generalissimo Franco is highly regarded by Jews; during the worst days of World War II, when pressures from Hitler were at their heaviest, Franco refused to issue anti-Jewish edicts and instead provided a sanctuary, never violated, for Jews who managed to make it to Spain. Many thousands of Jews owe their lives to Franco, and this is not forgotten."

In Resolutions of the War Emergency Conference of the World Jewish Congress, Atlantic City, New Jersey, November 26-30, 1944, page 15: "The War Emergency Conference extends its gratitude to the Holy See and to the Governments of Sweden, Switzerland, and [Francoist] Spain... for the protection they offered under difficult conditions to the persecuted Jews of Hungary..."

In The Congressional Record of January 24, 1950, Rep. Abraham Multer quotes a spokesman for the Joint Distribution Committee: “During the height of Hitler's blood baths, upwards of 60,000 Jews had been saved by the generosity of Spanish authorities.”

Newsweek, March 2, 1970: "...a respected U.S. rabbi has come forward with surprising evidence that tens of thousands of Jews were saved from Nazi ovens by the personal intervention of an unlikely protector. Spain's Generalissimo Franco, in so many other respects a wartime collaborator of Adolf Hitler. "I have absolute proof that Franco saved more than 60,000 Jews during World War II," says Rabbi Chaim Lipscitz of Brooklyn's Torah Vodaath and Mesitva rabbinical seminary.

“[Franco], just out of the Spanish Civil War, had no intention of entering another, greater war on either side, and... by setting an unreachable price for Hitler to pay for his cooperation with the Caudillo was "buying peace with words," tightrope walking between two swords, hoping for the entire conflict to go away without any involvement. Despite the Civil War debt to Hitler, Franco resisted the Führer's threats and cajolery and did not permit the Wehrmacht to enter Spain, carry out Hitler's plan to close the Mediterranean to British shipping and consequently force the end of World War II in 1940 before the United States could be ready to enter. The real events depicted in this narrative did occur and this one man's actions, although entirely self serving on behalf of Spain, may well have tipped the balance of World War II in favor of the allies.”
-- Stanley G. Payne, Hilldale-Jaume Vicens Vives Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

[Source of above quotes]

For an A.K. you seem to have a poor grasp of history. I could post hundreds of photos showing various world leaders greeting each other warmly. Such greetings mean nothing; I recall Leonid Brezhnev being kissed on the mouth by Erich Honecker of the DDR once -- did that mean they were in love?

One photograph does not make a case. The historical evidence is clear: Generalissimo Franco and Adolf Hitler shared neither common aims nor affection, and to imply otherwise is to impugn the memory of the man who saved Spain from the communist nightmare.

[BlueLancer]

"Franco? I did not believe that fascism was conservative value. Perhaps you are on wrong site."

I doubt it, newbie ... let's just say you need to learn a little bit more history and pay less attention to popular socialist literature and media.

[chilepepper]

Chile is the true success story of South America -- this is Pinochets' true legacy. He actually tried the economics that Milton Friedman expoused.

Living here, I can unequivocally state that if Allende had stayed in power, the Communists would STILL BE HERE. Chile is very much like an island, so the parallels with Cuba are very strong.

Pinochet was no saint, and he overstayed his welcome. If he had left power after 5 or 10 years, he would be wildly popular today (as opposed to just wildly popular with a significant fraction of the population)...

He did, however, leave power without a fight, albeit reluctantly -- Castro and Chavez are the real dictators, and they will never leave power on their own.

[chilepepper]

Exactly. True fascism is socialism merged with nationalism, and Franco was only mildly socialist by todays standards. Pinochet did, however, use Franco as a practical model on how to govern, and in the end ceded power on his own, which Franco also did.

Franco was way too smart to be Hitler's lapdog and his navigating Spain through WWII without joining sides was nothing short of brilliant. He probably disdained Hitler rather than "hate" him though...

[Allan]

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