Seeking Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement between the US & Spain

Dear Mr. Martin-Palma,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Subject Files Relating to Spain and Portugal, 1942-1958 in the General Records of the Department of State (Record Group 59) that includes records related to the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) that might be of interest to you. The series Subject Files Relating to Program Management, 1949-1951, the series Central Subject Files, 1949-1951, and the series General Records, 1949-1951 of the Office of the Director for Mutual Assistance and its successor the Office of International Security Affairs in Record Group 59 contain information related to Spain and MDAP that might be useful as well. We also located 5 series from the U.S. Embassy in Spain in the 1950s in the Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the United States (Record Group 84) that may contain some relevant information. These records have not been digitized. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov for assistance with these records.

Next, we located the series Security Classified General Correspondence and Administrative Central Files, 1951-1960 in the Records of Interservice Agencies (Record Group 334) for the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Spain that contains some information related to the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. We also located the series Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) Property Receipts and Cargo Manifests Files, 1950-1953 in Record Group 334 that may contain some records related to Spain, too. The series General Correspondence, 1947-1954, the series Security Classified General Correspondence, 1948-1954, the series Project Decimal Files, 1956 in the Records of the Army Staff (Record Group 319) include information about MDAP and Spain. These records have not been digitized. Please contact RDT2  at archives2reference@nara.gov for access to these and similar records.

You may use The National Archives Catalog to search for additional relevant resources related to the Mutual Defense Assistance Program in the 1950s. The Advanced Search feature lets you narrow your results by time period, record group, type of record, and more.

If you have not already done so, we suggest that you consult Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). This is a Department of State publication of selected documents from the Department’s files and other sources. Besides providing the text of the most important documents on U.S. foreign policy, FRUS also provides a source citation printed either as a header with the document or as a footnote). Those references to file numbers or other records identification are the keys to locating not only the printed documents but other documents on the same subject not selected for publication. Cited "Lot Files" may be difficult to identify among the records in the National Archives using just the Lot number. If you are interested in using any of those records, please contact RDT2 via email at archives2reference@nara.gov. FRUS volumes are usually available at large universities or public libraries, and in the U.S. Government Depository Libraries.

Due to the continued impact of COVID-19, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2.  We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

Finally, we located the online resource Military Facilities in Spain: Agreement Between the United States and Spain, September 26, 1953 from Yale University’s Avalon Project that may be useful.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!