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A Brief History

Morocco is the first country to recognize the United States, in December
1777.

Through his representative in Tangier, the Sultan of Morocco informed a
number of countries "including the Americans" that they were allowed to
enter Moroccan ports without payment of duties or tariff. (letter above).
This constituted de facto recognition of the United States.


Straits of Gibraltar from Dutch Map 18th
century

George Washington established the first diplomatic mission to Morocco in
December 1797 when an American Consulate was established in Tangier
with the hope of ensuring the safe passage of American shipping into the
Mediterranean.
In 1821, the Moroccan ruler, Sid Suleiman, gave the United States, a
building in the old medina of Tangier.
The Moroccan rulers had given buildings in the Old Medina to other
diplomatic missions in Morocco in order to encourage the diplomatic
corps to deal with the Sultan's representative, the Mendoub, who was
assigned to Tangier. The Americans were the last country to receive the
Sultan's gift and the only country that held on to this site down to the
present day. From 1821 to the end of the French and Spanish
Protectorates in 1956, the American Legation in Tangier served as our
diplomatic mission to Morocco.
During the Second World War, officers at the Legation helped prepare for
the Allied Landings in North Africa that took place in November 1942.
One of these officers, Gordon Browne, was decorated for bravery in
designating a landing field for Allied glider planes.
During the Second World War, the international city of Tangier, was
administered as a neutral city by General Franco of Spain. The
atmosphere of intrigue and espionage portrayed in the famous movie,
Casablancafilmed entirely in Hollywoodstarring Humphrey Bogart and
Ingrid Bergman, really best describes Tangier during World War II.
Following the successful Allied landings in North Africa, President
Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill, met in Casablanca
in January 1943. to confer on the future conduct of the war. General De
Gaulle of France also attended along with high ranking British and
American officers.


Seated are King Mohamed V of Morocco, Roosevelt, and
Churchill

With the end of the French and Spanish Protectorates in 1956, all foreign
diplomatic missions moved to Rabat. The Legation building continued as
the Consulate General for five years and then served as an Arabic
Language school for American diplomats and as a Peace Corps training
center. In 1975 the building stood empty and might have been sold if US
diplomats in Morocco and friends in Washington had not acted (as
explained elsewhere) to save and protect it.