Franco’s Spain: Consolidation and Transformation (1951-1959)
Franco’s Regime: Consolidation and Transformation (1951-1959)
During this period, significant changes were implemented to address the problems highlighted by the protests of 1951. Aspects of the autarkic and isolationist policies, characteristic of the previous decade, were also progressively eliminated. This process culminated in 1959 with the implementation of the Stabilization Plan and the visit to Spain by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower was greeted by large crowds, symbolizing Spain’s increasing alignment with the United States.
Key Characteristics of the 1950s in Francoist Spain
Among the hallmarks of the 1950s, the following can be highlighted:
Political Transformations
In 1956, university protests forced Franco’s regime to implement a new change of direction in 1957. Catholic ministers, now largely from Opus Dei, became known as technocrats. This team, led by Laureano López Rodó, designed the 1959 Stabilization Plan and was instrumental in the economic growth of the 1960s. The individual primarily responsible for the technocrats’ entry into government was the increasingly influential Carrero Blanco. Along with these ministers, Carrero Blanco cultivated a group of monarchical influence, which definitively shifted Falangists from power. The military was another faction that lost significant influence within the Franco regime from 1957 onwards.
Growing Catholic Influence
Catholic influence was represented in these years by members of the ACNP (National Catholic Association of Propagandists). On one hand, Alberto Martín Artajo remained Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez, another member of the same institution and a moderate reformist, was appointed Minister of Education, initiating some liberalizing reforms. The counterweight to these reforms came from the Falangist Gabriel Arias-Salgado, who, as head of the Ministry of Information and Tourism, imposed strict press censorship. Carrero Blanco, in turn, solidified his position as Franco’s right-hand man.
Intensified Economic Liberalization
This trend towards economic liberalization was combined with repressive social and political measures. The institutionalization of the regime was also completed, embodied in the Law of the Principles of the National Movement (1958), which defined the regime as a traditional, Catholic, social, and representative monarchy.
External Openness and International Relations
After 1950, the regime’s diplomatic relations significantly improved. Franco’s Spain proved useful to the U.S. for its policy of containing communism, providing a strategic platform for its network of military bases despite the government’s undemocratic nature. In this context, in September 1953, Spain signed a series of pacts with the United States, integrating economically and militarily into the strategic plans of the power leading the Western bloc.
These agreements allowed the U.S. to build military bases in Torrejón de Ardoz, Zaragoza, Morón, and Rota. In return, Franco secured economic and military support for his regime, though he never fully embraced Spain’s integration into the modernity represented by the United States. These agreements also entailed a significant concession of national sovereignty and freedom of international action, which seemed at odds with a stated ultranationalist policy.
Spain became a satellite in the U.S. orbit; however, it did not join the Western community as a full member because it did not receive support from the Marshall Plan, and its entry into the EEC (European Economic Community) and NATO was vetoed. Nevertheless, Spain was admitted to the UN (United Nations) in 1955.
Shortly before 1953, a Concordat was signed with the Holy See, enshrining the confessional nature of the Spanish state: Catholic education was compulsory, the only valid marriage was religious, the Church was maintained by the state, and it was exempt from taxes. In return, Franco recognized the right to present bishop candidates to the Pope.