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tations of “divisive” regionalism. Past glories from the days of Ferdinand
and Isabella onward were constantly evoked, while the uncertain future
was obscured in clouds of rhetoric. Spain continued to cling to the rem-
nants of the colonial empire like an impoverished hidalgo clutching
about him tattered rags that were once a splendid cloak.
Abroad Spain at first paid the full price of her Nazi connections,
excluded, for example, from the United Nations and most other inter-
national bodies. Spanish citizens were also kept at arm's length through-
out the world unless they could produce credentials certifying their
status as dissenters or escaped political prisoners. The onset of the cold
war brought about a gradual change. During the 1950s Franco was able
to play the anticommunist card with increasing effect. Many in the
United States, including leading political figures, now endorsed him
and hailed his country as a firm bulwark against Soviet penetration of
Western Europe. As a wide variety of dictators began to be taken into
the service of the “free world,” Franco appeared less isolated and less
odious. American air and naval bases presently appeared on Spanish
soil, and membership in international institutions, with the United
States acting as patron, became increasingly possible. Privation at home
and rejection beyond the frontiers gave way to a new sense of
possibility.
The last 15 years of Franco's rule were characterized by a promotion
of foreign involvement and increasing liberalization of domestic eco-
nomic controls. Although still a poor country, Spain began to take on
some appearance of prosperity, especially in the coastal regions favored
by tourists. Yet industry lagged, and the rural areas remained backward.
Unemployed countrypeople migrated to Madrid and other major cities,
introducing complex urban problems. Some Spaniards continued to
seek work in other parts of Europe, sustaining their hungry families at
home by a flow of remittances that made up a significant portion of the
country's revenue. Old wealth and new entrepreneurial fortunes pre-
served the existence of a social elite, whose fear of proletarian discon-
tent assured their loyalty to the regime.
All of this change was viewed with a mixture of satisfaction and
apprehension by members of the governing circle. Those who consid-
ered themselves progressives and reformers urged El Caudillo to greater
political as well as economic openness while hard-line conservatives
warned of danger ahead and insisted that he should rule and change
nothing, even rescinding some of his earlier modifications of the
authoritarian system. Franco, whose fundamental concept of rule was
to encourage rivalry among his principal supporters while keeping his
own counsel, allowed these factions to compete and alternate in small
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