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Portugal United States
The United States and Portugal traditionally considered
each
other friends and allies. These sentiments were reinforced
by the
large number of Portuguese immigrants to the United States
and
the growing economic and political importance of this
Portuguese
community. Since 1943, when the United States built the
Lajes Air
Base on Terceira Island in the Azores, American interests
in
Portugal were mainly strategic and military. In return for
the
use of this vitally important base, the United States gave
military aid to Portugal. Portugal also benefited from the
European Recovery Program (ERP), more commonly known as
the
Marshall Plan. During the 1960s and early 1970s, relations
between the two countries were sometimes strained because
the
United States took an anticolonial stand with regard to
Portuguese Africa.
United States officials were not worried initially by
the
Revolution of 1974. They assumed that General Spínola, a
military
man and a conservative, would maintain control. As the
revolution
moved sharply to the left, however, and it appeared
possible the
PCP might come to power, United States officials became
uneasy.
Frank Carlucci, the United States ambassador in Lisbon,
directed
a campaign to aid democratic groups. The United States and
its
NATO allies provided assistance to the socialists and
socialist
trade unions because they were viewed as the best
alternative to
a communist takeover. The United States also sought to
rally the
moderate elements within the military and in Portugal
generally.
The campaign paid off as Portugal remained democratic.
United States assistance, presence, and involvement
remained
high during the late 1970s. But as Portuguese politics
came to
resemble those of other West European nations during the
1980s,
United States assistance declined. In 1983 the base
agreement was
renegotiated, but Portuguese officials were subsequently
disappointed by a reduction in American military aid. As
part of
the base agreement, the Luso-American Development
Foundation was
created to promote economic and cultural ties between the
two
countries. The next base negotiations, scheduled for the
early
1990s, were certain to be onerous as the two countries
each
sought to realize their respective aims. The United States
would
continue to have a keen interest in the Lajes Air Base,
the only
such base available, while Portugal, less dependent on the
United
States as it became integrated into Europe, would have a
strong
hand at the negotiating table.
Data as of January 1993
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