Carlton J. H. Hayes

Who was Carlton J. H. Hayes?

Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes was an American educator, diplomat, and academic. A student of European history, he was a specialist on the study of nationalism. He was elected as president of the American Historical Association over the opposition of liberals. He served as United States Ambassador to Spain in World War II, but he came under attack from the CIO and other forces on the left that rejected any dealings with the Spain of Francisco Franco. Historian Holly Cowan Shulman wrote:

Hayes, whom President Franklin Roosevelt appointed in March 1942, was a choice necessitated by Spanish politics. The Franco regime would not have tolerated either a non-Catholic or a liberal. Hayes was an active Catholic who believed that Franco's government should not be ideologically grouped with the Axis countries. Put more bluntly, Hayes believed that Francisco Franco was less repressive and totalitarian than either Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, and that Franco could be converted into an American ally.