Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
victories while pursuing an essentially liberalizing line. Even in matters
of state control over the media, political discussion, and labor policy,
the regime slowly moderated its regulations. Censorship became more
relaxed, although intellectuals found it absurdly arbitrary and still fun-
damentally opposed to “modernism.”
The late 1960s and especially the early 1970s were a time of increased
stress and confused expectations for Spaniards. The economic “boom”
had receded, a terroristic response to oppression had surfaced among
Basque nationalists (leading to the spectacular assassination of Franco's
right-hand man), and arguments about the parameters of reform raged.
The question of leadership was, however, clearly the most urgent of all.
Franco was evidently in declining health and the murder of his deputy,
Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, by the Basques opened the question of
future control of the state. But the old man had already provided for
that. Some years before he had initiated the process of training a suc-
cessor. His intention was to restore the monarchy as a stabilizing force.
His safeguard, however, was to pass over the direct heir of Alfonso XIII,
the count of Barcelona, in favor of the latter's son Prince Juan Carlos.
The prince, who had lived most of his life abroad, would be brought to
Spain for his higher education, including attendance at the academies
of the three armed services. He would also serve apprenticeships in key
civil ministries. Having thus prepared himself for the kingship through
a thorough training in the workings of government, he would, in effect,
sit at the side of El Caudillo, gaining practical experience in decision
making. As this plan evolved to its completion, various interests became
increasingly nervous. Reactionaries of all stripes feared the persistence
of liberal ideas in the prince's thinking. Reformers suspected that the
nature of the young man's education would produce a mere Francoist
cypher. Others frankly did not know what to make of him, for he pre-
served a certain reserve under a veneer of affability. Whether Franco
intended, in his final years, to render a patriotic service to the country
that he had so long exploited for his own benefit or whether this plan
of succession was intended as a bitter joke will probably never be
known. Franco died, after a long illness, on November 20, 1975, and
Spain was left to work out its destiny.
THE LATER SALAZAR REGIME AND
ITS AFTERMATH: 1945-1975
In Portugal the Salazar regime emerged relatively unscathed from
World War II, with little of the odium attached to the Spanish dictator-
ship. By 1955 Salazar had secured membership in the United Nations
Search WWH ::
Custom Search