It was on this day in 1978 that King Juan Carlos of Spain ratified a democratic constitution following decades of dictatorship by General Francisco Franco. Franco came into power in 1939, at the end of the bloody Spanish Civil War, of which Albert Camus wrote: “It was in Spain that men learned that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, that there are times when courage is not its own recompense. It is this, doubtless, which explains why so many men, the world over, feel the Spanish drama as a personal tragedy.” By 1978, when Spain ratified a new constitution, King Juan Carlos had been in power for three years. He was the grandson of Alfonso XIII, the last reigning monarch of Spain before it became a republic. Juan Carlos had been born in Italy, but educated in Spain with Franco’s permission, and eventually Franco had selected Juan Carlos, made him a prince, and groomed him as his successor. In 1969, Juan Carlos was announced as heir-apparent to the regime, and it was generally expected that he would continue ruling in the same style as Franco. For the next few years, Franco’s health continued to decline, and Juan Carlos appeared with him at all state functions, praising Franco and the benefits that the dictator had brought to the country. Despite his outward acts of loyalty to Franco, Juan Carlos was conducting secret meetings with the liberal opposition. His own father, Don Juan de Borbón, had been a proponent of a constitutional monarchy for decades. In October of 1975, Franco handed over full control to Juan Carlos, and the dictator died three weeks later. King Juan Carlos presided over Spain’s transition to democracy, but it was a rough transition. The military and right-wing powers were furious that he seemed to be abandoning many of Franco’s policies, but the liberals were similarly dubious that a man personally trained in Franco’s image would be a force of change. The leader of the Communist Party dubbed him “Juan Carlos el Breve” — Juan Carlos the Brief — because everyone assumed his reign would be short. Meanwhile, violence flared up by Basque separatists, and there was unrest among some of the fascists loyal to the old regime. In 1977, Spain held its first democratic elections post-Franco, and a new Spanish Parliament was assembled. From within it, a seven-member panel was chosen to draft a new constitution. The seven members represented different factions within the complicated and divided world of Spanish politics. They began working in secret in the fall of 1977, and seven months later they had finished a draft of the new constitution. They wanted to choose someone literary to write the preamble to the Constitution, and settled on Enrique Tierno Galván, a professor, essayist, and leftist politician. The Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by the legislature, translated into Spain’s other languages, and approved in a national referendum on December 6th. The Constitution was signed into law by King Juan Carlos on this day in 1978. Even after the Constitution was established, the new democracy took a while to get on its feet. The biggest hurdle was an attempted military coup in 1981. Some of the coup members probably thought they could count on the king’s support, which would have restored absolute power to the monarchy. Instead, Juan Carlos appeared on national television, dressed in full military uniform, and denounced the coup. He said: “The Crown, the symbol of the permanence and unity of the nation, cannot tolerate, in any form, actions or attitudes of people attempting by force to interrupt the democratic process.” ~ The Writers Almanac
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 12:57:38 +0000
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