Suárez González, Adolfo

▪ prime minister of Spain

born September 25, 1932, Cebreros, near Ávila, Spain

      prime minister of Spain from July 1976 until January 1981 and secretary-general of the National Movement, Francisco Franco (Franco, Francisco)'s official political movement. At the age of 43, he assumed office as Spain's youngest prime minister of the 20th century.

      Suárez's father was a minor civil servant, and his mother belonged to the distinguished Cebreros family that was influential in politics. At the age of 16 he entered the University of Salamanca and at 21 received a degree in law, later obtaining a doctorate cum laude from the University of Madrid. He held various small posts in the provinces, most of them within the National Movement, including vice general secretary (1961–64) of the movement. He later worked with the national radio and television network and became responsible for the first television channel. After serving as civil governor and provincial head of the National Movement in Segovia during 1968–69, he moved back to radio and television as director general. Government censorship laws were relaxed during his tenure.

      In March 1975 he was appointed deputy secretary-general of the National Movement and in December, after Franco's death, he was appointed secretary-general, with cabinet rank, by Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro (Arias Navarro, Carlos). Also in 1975, he was founder-member and later president of the Union of the Spanish People, a mildly reformist political association within the National Movement. In June 1976 he strongly defended in the Cortes (parliament) the new law legalizing political parties.

      In July 1976 his appointment to head Spain's second government under King Juan Carlos provoked mixed reactions. Although he was more liberal than the old Francoists, Suárez's position in Franco's National Movement guaranteed at least a measure of loyalty to the Francoist past. In addition, Suárez had links to the powerful Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei. Upon gaining office, however, Suárez showed moderation in his policies. He opened political dialogue, challenging Francoist sentiment in the military by legalizing the socialist and communist parties, and he called Spain's first free elections since 1936.

      Suárez formed a political party consisting of social democrats and liberals, the Central Democratic Union (Unión Centro del Democrático, or UCD). His party won the elections in 1977, and Suárez was elected to a four-year term. His government was increasingly plagued, however, by the push for autonomy by several of Spain's regions and, toward the same end, by heightened terrorist activity on the part of the Basque separatist group ETA. Already in 1978 there was strain within Suárez's own party and increasing popular competition from the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. In elections in 1979 the UCD failed to win an overall majority in the Cortes, but Suárez retained sufficient parliamentary support to remain in power. He was compelled to form a fifth cabinet in September 1980 and gained another vote of confidence only by promising members of the Andalusian Socialist Party a fully autonomous regional government, which added to the government's loss of popularity nationwide. In addition, Basque terrorism was on the rise: in 1980 there was an average of one political assassination every three days.

      Suárez resigned as premier and leader of the UCD in January 1981. In August 1982 he founded a new political party, the Social and Democratic Centre, but it never achieved any significance.

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