Spain Minus Franco

Francisco Franco was our century’s most successful ruler. Haile Selassie—alone—beat Franco in length of reign, but Haile Selassie ruled a country that was fifth-rate when he started and sixth-rate, heading down, when he finished or, rather, was finished.

Franco was not particularly intelligent—at military academy he graduated 251st in a class of 312. His personal appearance and voice were unimpressive; he had none of the charisma that has marked the spectacular leaders of the past hundred years. But he outstayed all his great contemporaries, friend and enemy: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Eisenhower, de Gaulle. A lead article in the solidly anti-Franco Express, searching for explanation, summed up its estimate: “. . . a patient stubbornness, a flawless prudence, and an unshakable faith in his mission. A policy that aimed, before anything else, to preserve and to endure. . . . Not a trace of sadism or cruelty. No sudden inspirations, no passion. But a pitiless coldness and a crushing certitude. Before coming to a decision he meditated before a portable Blessed Sacrament, which always accompanied him, and a mummified hand of Saint Theresa, a relic found in the abandoned luggage of a Republican colonel. Thereafter, no further doubt. ‘I, Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Caudillo of Spain, conscious of my responsibility before God and before history . . .’ And, besides all the rest, luck.”

JB

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James Burnham

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Francisco Franco was our century’s most successful ruler. Haile Selassie—alone—beat Franco in length of reign, but Haile Selassie ruled a country that was fifth-rate when he started and sixth-rate, heading down, when he finished or, rather, was finished.

Franco was not particularly intelligent—at military academy he graduated 251st in a class of 312. His personal appearance and voice were unimpressive; he had none of the charisma that has marked the spectacular leaders of the past hundred years. But he outstayed all his great contemporaries, friend and enemy: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Eisenhower, de Gaulle. A lead article in the solidly anti-Franco Express, searching for explanation, summed up its estimate: “. . . a patient stubbornness, a flawless prudence, and an unshakable faith in his mission. A policy that aimed, before anything else, to preserve and to endure. . . . Not a trace of sadism or cruelty. No sudden inspirations, no passion. But a pitiless coldness and a crushing certitude. Before coming to a decision he meditated before a portable Blessed Sacrament, which always accompanied him, and a mummified hand of Saint Theresa, a relic found in the abandoned luggage of a Republican colonel. Thereafter, no further doubt. ‘I, Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Caudillo of Spain, conscious of my responsibility before God and before history . . .’ And, besides all the rest, luck.”