Outstanding Spanish politician with academic training in law, who was president of the government of Spain between 1976 and 1981 and who was in charge of the difficult and delicate task of leading the country through the process of transition to democracy, once the military dictatorship ended. of General Franco, which has been one of the longest in history.
This work of stabilizing democracy in the midst of a monarchy and maintaining the balance between the different political factions was recognized by the king. Juan Carlos I, who gave him in recognition the Duchy of Suárez, with greatness of Spain and ordered it as a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez He was born in Cebreros, a municipality in the province of Ávila, belonging to the autonomous community of Castilla y León in Spain, on September 25, 1932. He began his law studies in the city of Salamanca and later obtained a degree in law from the Complutense University of Madrid.
At a very early age, he began to perform in various government positions, even within the Franco regime, protected by the politician Fernando Herrero Tejedor, who was a Falangist belonging to Opus Dei and who had been governor of the province of Ávila, arriving in 1958 to be part of the General Secretariat of the Movement. From then on, he began an ascending career, being appointed in 1961 head of the Technical Office of the Deputy Secretary General, In 1967 he was appointed as attorney in Cortes by Ávila and later civil governor of Segovia in 1968.
His organizational capacity leads him to be appointed in 1969 CEO of Spanish Radio Television, state organization in which he had already held various positions between 1964 and 1968; remains as General Director until 1973. Again supported by Blacksmith Weaver, is chosen as Deputy Secretary General of the Movement, that it was the only political party allowed by the Franco regime, in April 1975 and would be there until June of the same year when Tejedor’s accidental death occurs.
After Franco’s death, Arias Navarro, a favorite of the Francoists and nicknamed the Malaga butcher for the brutal repression of the supporters of the Republic in that province that culminated in the execution of all, names Adolfo Suárez as Minister Secretary General of the Movement On December 11, 1975 and even though he was almost unknown to the majority of the Spanish people, he gained notoriety, being supported by the Crown and by popular support for his reformist policies, which allowed him to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Government.
The king Juan Carlos I At the age of 43, he was commissioned to form the second democratic government in the face of Arias Navarro’s inability to implement the necessary changes to dismantle Franco’s iron structures, a task in which he was skillfully accompanied by a group of politicians of his generation They also longed for a democratic society, thus bringing together liberals, social democrats, Christian Democrats and, of course, Falangists convinced of the benefits of democracy, as was their own case.
The dismantling of Francoist structures, with the necessary complicity of the armed forces, was not an easy task, but it was necessary and for this it had the support of the PSOE and from Communist Party of Spain and with the invaluable help of the Lieutenant General Manuel Gutierrez Mellado who controlled the high military spheres that were Francoist and not very inclined to reform.
He held the first democratic elections since 1936 on June 15, 1977, and in them he was victorious and obtained his second term on March 3, 1979. However, this period was not as brilliant and successful as the previous ones given the proliferation of mayors of the left named in the municipal elections of April and that produced a breakdown of the agreements with the PSOE and the Communist Party, together with the opposition of Suárez to submit his government program to the approval of Congress. Faced with the differences with King Juan Carlos and the loss of support from the political parties, Suárez resigned from his post on January 29, 1981.