Word: generalissimoing
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...lights were burning late in El Pardo, the somber palace on the outskirts of Madrid. As he waited in the cold, cavernous halls hung with tapestries of medieval Spain, Generalissimo Francisco Franco might well have wondered if the lights of his destiny were also burning late. It was going on midnight when a motorcycle courier raced into the high-walled palace grounds, roared past the Moorish sentinels, and delivered the text of the Tripartite declaration. "It is hoped," London, Washington and Paris had broadcast, "that leading patriotic and liberal-minded Spaniards may soon find means to bring about a peaceful...
...this all? No call to the republican masses? No sanctions, economic or political? No threat of direct intervention? Nothing to follow up the French closing of the border? The Generalissimo and his advisers breathed a long sigh of relief...
...prop is the army, abetted by five kinds of security police. Traditionally conservative and monarchist, the army has been preened and pampered by the Generalissimo. Seven hundred thousand strong, it is the biggest in continental western Europe. With officers who have impatiently pressed for a monarchical restoration, the Generalissimo has played a cagey game. He, too, is pledged to bring back a king. But by judicious transfers of outstanding monarchists like General Alfredo Kindelan (first to the Canaries, then to house confinement in Madrid) and on his record in keeping the army out of World War II's losing...
This noisy enthusiasm did not penetrate to the dungeons under the plaza, where some of the Generalissimo's 50,000 political prisoners were rotting...
...Allied manifesto addressed to "leading" Spaniards was daring, high-principled and humane. But, as practical measures, what did they amount to? Would huffing & puffing blow Franco down? Would the brave words be buttressed by bold diplomacy? If so, would there be repercussions that might not only drive the Generalissimo from power but also upset still further the uneasy balance of Europe...