Word: franco
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...death of Franco will end an epoch for both Spain and Europe. Long the Continent's most reviled pariah, Franco was a haunting, living reminder that the West had failed to act decisively during the Spanish Civil War, when the forces of Communism, Fascism and democracy confronted each other in what turned out to be a dress rehearsal for World War II. In the postwar years, Franco confounded his numerous critics by taming a naturally rebellious nation that had spawned anarchy and by bringing Spanish society into the modern industrial age (see following story). Yet, like most dictators...
...there is also apprehension that the old hatreds bred in the bloody Civil War, unresolved ethnic and geographic differences, and the bitterness of the years of selective repression may rise to the surface. For more than a decade Spain has been obsessed with the question: After Franco, what? It is now about to find...
Technically, at least, Franco answered that with the 1947 Law of Succession, which declares Spain a monarchy; later he decreed that within eight days of his death his power would devolve upon Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, 37 (see box page 26), who as King of Spain will ascend the throne vacated 44 years ago by his grandfather, Alfonso XIII. Yet few observers expect the inexperienced, untested Prince to be able to control the political forces that will certainly be unleashed by Franco's departure...
...Franco's final crisis came quickly and unexpectedly. A month ago Franco-with Juan Carlos at his side-had appeared on the Royal Palace balcony to accept the homage of a mass rally in Madrid's Plaza de Oriente and he seemed vigorous for a man of his years (TIME, Oct. 13). Then, in the midst of an Oct. 17 Cabinet meeting at El Pardo Palace, his official residence outside Madrid, he announced that he was feeling queasy and excused himself from the room. The next morning Spain was swept by rumors about the state of his health...
...four days uncertainty mounted as the government refused to comment on Franco's condition; finally, the dictator's doctor announced that "in the course of an attack of influenza" he had "suffered an acute coronary crisis." Hoping to convince the public that Franco was indeed "recovering satisfactorily," as the bulletin claimed, the palace began issuing a steady stream of suspiciously cheerful news items reporting that Franco had "walked through his rooms," watched a film and talked animatedly with his family. It was even announced that he intended to preside over last Friday's regular Cabinet meeting...