The Legation and Moroccan-American Relations

Tangier figured prominently in our relations during the "Barbary Wars," the only period of our long association marked by any degree of tension. This was in due course resolved, and the "taxing power from the shores of Tripoli" was dissipated.

The 1786 treaty was renegotiated in 1835 under unusual circumstances. By this time James R. Leib occupied the Consulate at Tangier, for which President Washington had requested funds in 1795. Leib was instructed to go to Fez, where the Sultan was holding Court, to renegotiate the treaty of 1786. He refused-for reasons probably unique in American diplomatic history.

In 1833 Leib had accepted from the Sultan a lion and two horses as gifts to the Untied States. He sent an urgent communication to Washington recommending use of the horses Tangier and seeking authorization to ship the lion to Washington. Washington replied suggesting getting rid of the lion but sending the horses to Washington if they were any good. The cost of feeding the beast was $1 per day, and Leib's salary was only $2,000 a year. By the time was instructed to proceed to Fez, Leib had spent $439.50 on the animal, but had not received a reply to his appeal to Washington to take the lion off his hands. He could not sell the animals for fear offending the Sultan, and he was disinclined to put himself in a position to receive further marks of the Sultan's esteem for the United States that might prove equally costly to him.

Leib solved his problem in the traditional bureaucratic fashion: he sent his Vice Consul, John F. Mullawny. The treaty was renegotiated by Mullawny and signed in Meknes on September 1836. It is still in force today, probably the most durable treaty in American history.

Leib's successor tried to refuse another gift of lions from the Sultan, but relented when the Pasha who brought them swore that he would lose his head if he did not deliver the lions and, when the consul declined to receive them, began depositing the lions on the narrow street in front of the Consulate. This time, however, Washington came promptly to his aid by authorizing shipment to the USA.

Early in the Civil War, Confederate ships called at Tangier. After the Union government called this this indiscretion to the attention of the Moroccan authorities, life at the Legation was occasionally disturbed by hostile crowds protesting the U.S. Navy's interference with Moroccan trade. On several occasions it became necessary for U.S. Marines to come ashore to move prisoners which had been taken from Confederate ships, through town to U.S. warships.

For a while following the Civil War the pace of diplomatic activity in Tangier dropped of considerably, somewhat bringing isolating the inhabitants. In "Innocents Abroad" Mark Twain described the city as being "clear out of the world" and the "completest exile."

Growing disorder led to the establishment in 1880 of an International Sanitary Commission for the Tangier Area. It gradually assumed a governing role, with the diplomatic corps serving as the Commission. Colonialism was waxing strongly in Africa, and France, Germany and Spain were casting covetous eyes upon Morocco. The United States, just beginning to make itself known as an international power, stood for an Open Door policy in Morocco. Samuel R. Gummere, our Minister in Tangier, successfully represented this point of view at the Algeciras conference, and it was incorporated into the Act of 1906. Following the elimination of German influence in Morocco, however, France and Spain divided the country into protectorates, while the area around Tangier became an international city. For some time after World War II, the United States did not participate in the Tangier Government. The Legation, however, exercised jurisdiction over American citizens and protégés. Ultimately, the United States did participate in the Tangier Government and continued to do so until restoration of Moroccan independence.

World War II ushered in a new phase of Legation activity. Because of strong German influence in the French protectorate and Spanish sympathy for the Axis, the Allied presence in Africa was limited to Tangier and Gibraltar, towns at each side of the strategic entrance to the Mediterranean. The Legation became a testing ground for the newly-formed Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in establishing effective intelligence operations. It was also major focus of the preparation and execution of the North African landings (Operation Torch), prepared in part by Ambassador Murphy and carried out under General Eisenhower. This effort provided the backbone for the first U.S. military expedition in the west, doomed the Axis in Africa, and laid the groundwork for the landings in Italy and France.

Architecturally the Legation has an intriguing background. The original structure, a stone building of the 18th century was incorporated into an enlarged complex surrounding an attractive courtyard. During the first half of the 19th century a reception room was constructed over the picturesque rue d'Amerique. After 1891 the Legation was further enlarged by the construction of the 3-story building along the same street and connecting with the reception area.

The in 1910 Minister Maxwell Blake arrived in Tangier, where he was to remain for a quarter of a century. In the 1920's he obtained the gift of two pieces of property across the street from the original structure, one a former theater. This enabled him to embark upon an ambitious program of construction and restoration-largely at his own expense. The most significant of his additions was a Moorish pavilions, overlooking, a new courtyard, in which antique doors, ceilings and tiles discovered in Fez and other parts of the country were used. Elsewhere in the legation the Minister added handsome 18th century lanterns, iron grillwork and marble mantelpieces. When Minister Blake completed his work, the Legation had grown into an imposing edifice of more than 30 rooms. The noted American architectural historian, Charles Peterson, who carried out a detailed study of the Legation in 1975, concluded that Minister Blake's additions in the "Mediterranean Revival" style popular in the 1920's have "considerable architectural interest and merit." Certainly the Legation as it stands charms the eyes and soothes the spirits of visitors weary of the hustle and bustle of the modern city of Tangier.