Title: United States and the Spanish Civil War
Headings: United States and the Spanish Civil War
United States and the Spanish Civil War
Primary Sources
(1) Bill Bailey wrote to his mother explaining why he was fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1937)
(2) Manchester Guardian (5th April 1937)
(3) Paul White deserted from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in March 1938. He drove to the French border. However, on hearing that his wife had given birth to a son, he began to feel remorse for what he had done. White wanted his son to be proud of his father and he returned to the front where he made a full confession of his actions. White was court-martialled and became the only American to be executed for desertion in the war.
(4) The Manchester Guardian (11th May 1938)
(5) Edwin Rolfe, New Masses (13th September, 1938)
(6) Bill Bailey was a member of the International Brigades parade in Barcelona on 15th November 1938.
(7) After the war Ernest Hemingway wrote about the role of the International Brigades.
(8) Milton Wolff, interviewed by Judy Montell in 1991.
(9) William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal (1963)

Content: United States and the Spanish Civil War
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United States and the Spanish Civil War
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United States and the Spanish Civil War
On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the United States government would remain neutral in the conflict. The United States government also took measures to restrict its citizens from selling arms to the Nationalists and Republicans. However some Americans did take part in the fighting. The Abraham Lincoln Battalion was established by those wanting to fight for the Republic during the war. The first volunteers sailed from New York City on 25th December, 1936 and joined the other International Brigades at Albacete. An estimated 3,000 men fought in the battalion. Of these, over 1,000 were industrial workers (miners, steel workers, longshoremen). Another 500 were students or teachers. Around 30 per cent were Jewish and 70 per cent were between 21 and 28 years of age. The majority were members of the American Communist Party whereas others came from the Socialist Party of America and Socialist Labor Party.