Word: generalissimo
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...dual struggle raged in Spain last week. While Generalissimo Francisco Franco fought to stay alive, his government struggled to keep functioning in a power vacuum. At week's end, as the old dictator still clung to life with characteristic tenacity, the government literally gave up waiting for him to die. It resolved a growing crisis of authority by pressuring a reluctant Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, Franco's heir designate, to become his country's temporary Chief of State. Only after Franco's death or a complicated legal process declaring...
While the generalissimo hovered between life and death, government leaders were trying to head off complete political paralysis. Under the Spanish constitution, major decisions can be taken only by the Cabinet and only when the Chief of State presides; moreover, all decree laws must be signed by him to take effect. With Franco so gravely ill, the government was unsure whether it had clear-cut authority to make decisions-even on matters as pressing as the Sahara crisis. Said a government official last week: "We cannot go on without an active leader...
...inexorable toll, Francisco Franco periodically pledged to his countrymen that he would rule Spain only "as long as God gives me life and a clear mind." It was apparent last week that the pledge was soon to come due, despite the determination with which the 82-year-old Generalissimo clung to the absolute power he had been wielding for nearly four decades. Severely weakened by a series of heart attacks, Western Europe's last dictator at week's end was barely hanging on to life. As the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church were administered, his family...
...dubbed "Francisco II." Often described as a storybook prince, he has in fact seemed more like the Sleeping Beauty of Spanish politics, a retiring figure patiently waiting for the kiss of Franco's death to free him from a somnolent existence lived in the shadow of the generalissimo's power...
...government. On July 17, 1936, the daring young general gained world headlines by launching a successful air and sea invasion of the Spanish mainland. Within 24 hours, Hitler and Mussolini were sending men and supplies to the rebels, and the Republic had clearly found its archadversary. Franco was proclaimed Generalissimo of the rebel forces and Chief of State in a brief ceremony at Burgos...