This article explores the position of Dos Passos as a writer in the Spanish polysystem, in which the story of the Spanish translator of Manhattan Transfer has been central in keeping Dos Passos's legacy alive in this country. After an overview of Dos Passos's bonds with the country from the American writer’s first trip to Spain in 1916, this analysis of the presence of Dos Passos's works in Spain begins on the last days of Miguel Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship when the Spanish translation of Manhattan Transfer was first published in Madrid in 1929; through the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975), to present-day twenty-first century Spain.