Franco's priest: Father Francis X. Talbot and the Spanish Civil War

The primary purpose of this paper is to contribute another perspective to those studies that have sought to explain the pro-Nationalist sentiment of many American Catholic leaders during the Spanish Civil War. In particular, this thesis analyzes the ideology and actions of Francis Talbot, S.J., who, as editor of America magazine and chairman of the America Spanish Relief Fund during the Spanish civil war, not only actively supported Franco's Nationalists but also constituted a brand of Catholic anticommunism that historians have recognized as a predecessor to the Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Through his thoughts and in his actions. Talbot represented one of the strongest defenses of the Nationalist cause in the United States. This thesis also attempts to demonstrate that Talbot, in waging an anticommunist campaign against the Spanish Republic, engaged in relief work that often violated Neutrality Act of 1937.