Despite the smiles in this picture, Franco's relationship with Hitler was anything but cordial. Hitler Stopped by Franco shatters the myth that the two men were friends and allies, and is backed up at every turn by historical records. The following is a comment by the great Spanish scholar, Stanley G. Payne, Hilldale-Jaume Vicens Vives Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"[Franco], just out of the Spanish Civil War, had no intention of entering another, greater war on either side, and... by setting an unreachable price for Hitler to pay for his cooperation with the Caudillo was "buying peace with words," tightrope walking between two swords, hoping for the entire conflict to go away without any involvement. Despite the Civil War debt to Hitler, Franco resisted the Führer's threats and cajolery and did not permit the Wehrmacht to enter Spain, carry out Hitler's plan to close the Mediterranean to British shipping and consequently force the end of World War II in 1940 before the United States could be ready to enter. The real events depicted in this narrative did occur and this one man's actions, although entirely self serving on behalf of Spain, may well have tipped the balance of World War II in favor of the allies."