Alberto Martín-Artajo

Alberto Martín-Artajo Álvarez (Madrid, 1905 - 1979) was a legal technocrat for the Nationalist (rebel) government during the Spanish Civil War and for the succeeding dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and a Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Foreign Minister from 1945 to 1957. In ideology he was not a Falangist (a member of the original Falange Española, the fascist-like party, before it absorbed the other anti-Republican parties), but a monarchist and a leader of the dynamic and powerful Catholic movement within the Francoist coalition. He had belonged to CEDA, the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (existed 1933-1937). [Preston 1995:111-119]

He received his secondary education at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo. [A venerable academy informally known in Spain as "the Jesuits at Chamartín". Article at Wikipedia in Spanish [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colegio_Nuestra_Señora_del_Recuerdoflagicon|Spain] ] Martín-Artajo earned a law degree from the University of Madrid. He became a staff attorney of the Council of State in 1931. ["El País" 31/08/1979] During the Republic, Martín-Artajo worked closely with Ángel Herrera Oria, the director of the Catholic newspaper "El Debate" and belonged to the lay "National Catholic Association of Propagators of the Faith" ("propagandistas"). [Article at Wikipedia in Spanish [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asociaci%C3%B3n_Cat%C3%B3lica_Nacional_de_Propagandistasflagicon|Spain] ] With the start of the Spanish Civil War, Martín-Artajo went over to the insurgent Nationalists. He was a legal adviser to the Nationalist government's Junta Técnica del Estado (State Technical Council), Franco's pseudocabinet, [At the beginning of the Civil War (July 1936), the insurgents created the [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junta_de_Defensa_Nacional Junta de Defensa Nacionalflagicon|Spain] (National Defense Council) to carry out the function of the Council of Ministers, the Spanish cabinet. The JDN was replaced by the Junta Técnica del Estado (State Technical Council) on 1 October 1936. Finally, a cabinet composed of ordinary ministerial departments was created by a law of 30 January 1938. See Linz et al., no date, p. 3 and fn. 6, and Jerez 1992:8] and to the Nationalist government's Labor Ministry. In 1940, General Franco appointed him president of the mass movement, Catholic Action.

In 1945, Martín-Artajo participated in the drafting of the quasiconstitutional "Fuero of the Spanish People", [Article at Wikipedia in Spanish, [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuero_de_los_Espa%C3%B1oles Fuero de los Españolesflagicon|Spain] ] a list of rights, freedoms, and responsibilities that was internationally regarded as a sham.fact|date=July 2008

In July 1945, fresh after the defeat of fascist Germany, Franco wanted to present the Spanish government as "Catholic" rather than a profascist, in the face of ostracism from other Western countries. Franco wanted to appoint Martín-Artajo Minister of Foreign Affairs. [Palomares 2005:11] [Portero 2007] After consulting with the primate of Spain,fact|date=July 2008 Cardinal Enrique Pla y Deniel, he accepted the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and resigned from his position at Catholic Action. His diplomatic efforts succeeded in breaking the dictatorship's isolation. ["New York Times" 1956] He effectuated the signing of the Concordat with the Holy See in August 1953, the bilateral Pact of Madrid [in Spanish, the Acuerdos hispano-norteamericanos] with the United States the following September, [Calvo-González 2007] and Spain's entry into the United Nations in 1955.

After retiring from the Foreign Ministry, he worked on the Council of State and at the publisher, Editorial Católica.

Notes

References

*Calvo-González, Oscar. 2007. [http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FJEH%2FJEH67_03%2FS0022050707000290a.pdf&code=1a02fad3804b1036a22b52fd9ff5084a American Military Interests and Economic Confidence in Spain under the Franco Dictatorship.] "Journal of Economic History", 2007 September, 67(3):740-767.
*"El País". 31 August 1979. [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/MARTiN_ARTAJO/_ALBERTO/ESPAnA/FRANQUISMO/Ha/fallecido/Alberto/Martin/Artajo/elpepiesp/19790831elpepinac_7/Tes/ Obituary of Alberto Martín-Artajo.] flagicon|Spain
*Jerez, Miguel. 1992. [http://www.recercat.net/bitstream/2072/1430/1/ICPS52.pdf Business and Politics in Spain: From Francoism to Democracy.] [http://www.recercat.net/handle/2072/1221 Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Working Paper] No. 52.
*Linz, Juan J., Miguel Jerez, and Susana Corzo. No date. [http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/publications/ces_papers.html Ministers and Regimes in Spain: From First to Second Restoration, 1874-2001. Center for European Studies Working Paper No. 101.]
*"New York Times". 10 April 1956. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0915F6395912718DDDA90994DC405B8689F1D3 Franco's Voice Abroad; Alberto Martin Artajo Early Catholic Leader]
*Palomares, Cristina. 2005. "The quest for survival after Franco: moderate Francoism and the slow journey to the polls, 1964-1977". Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.
*Portero, Florentino. 2007. [www.abc.es/hemeroteca/historico-03-12-2007/abc/Opinion/el-legado-castiella_1641446866614.html El legado Castiella] flagicon|Spain
*Preston, Paul. 1995. "The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in Twentieth-century Spain". Routledge.

Further study

* [http://www.slideshare.net/guest068124/franquismo-372865 España durante el franquismo] slide show at www.slideshare.net
*Tusell, Javier. 2007. Spain: From Dictatorship to Democracy: 1939 to the Present. Blackwell.