KNOCKING ON AMERICA'S DOOR. BASQUE FOREIGN POLITICS IN THE US DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1936-1945)

This article analyzes the so-called Atlanticist strategy and how was put into practice by the Basque government-in-exile trough two major periods: on the one hand, the Basque government delegation's activities in New York during the Spanish Civil War; it seeks to understand its origin, composition, behavior and relationship with American institutions-such as the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the State Department and its different agencies. On the other hand, it studies Basque lobbying activities during the Second World War. This was a key period since, as it will be shown in the forthcoming pages, during those years there was an effective collaboration between Basque institutions and certain pivotal American agencies, namely, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the Office of Coordinator of Information, the Office of Strategic Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.