Mission to Madrid

Two months ago, Harry Truman acidly told his news conference that it would be a long time before he sent an ambassador to Spain. Last week he sent one.

The President, who has been heard to call Axis Junior Partner Francisco Franco a rascal--among other things--made no attempt to hide his continuing contempt for Spain's dictator. He said his attitude toward Spain hasn't changed one bit. But Harry Truman, like many other people, was beginning to be less & less choosy about allies. Franco, after all, sits in a strategic position in the Mediterranean and in Europe, and he has 22 divisions, though his troops are poorly armed and he himself is of dubious dependability. As his ambassador, the President chose Stanton Griffis, onetime Ambassador to Poland, Egypt and more recently to Argentina.

Now 63, twice married and twice divorced, Griffis is a tall, shrewd and amiable investment banker who made enough of a fortune, before getting into statecraft, to spend his winters aboard his yacht off Florida. At one time he controlled Madison Square Garden and ran Paramount Pictures, was also one of the Democratic Party's most generous campaign contributors.

He went abroad on several wartime Government missions, but got his first big job when Harry Truman appointed him Ambassador to Poland in 1947. Griffis expressed the belief that Poland "will never become Communist." Two years later, with the Polish Communists in full control, Griffis was sent to Argentina, quickly got on good terms with Juan Peron and wife Evita. He worked hard for better trade relations between the U.S. and Argentina, but he angered the press corps and distressed the State Department by glossing over the undemocratic aspects of the Peron regime. "As human beings," he said in one speech, "you cannot enter a room with Peron or Mrs. Peron without feeling their charm . . . They are tireless workers for their people." He bawled out correspondents for being "so violently opposed" to Peron and for considering freedom of the press so basic in judging a nation. Peron seized gleefully on his remarks and publicized them widely.

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