In Madrid last week Dictator Francisco Franco ordered the creation of a new Cortes to help him manage hungry, impoverished Spain. His announcement, ostensibly timed to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the Spanish civil war's beginning, coincided with Berlin reports that 29-year-old, non-hemophilic Don Juan of Bourbon would soon ascend the throne abdicated by his father, the late King Alfonso XIII. Taken together, the two developments led to one conclusion: Franco needed a whipping boy to share the onus of governing his hate-ridden people.
For centuries the Cortes was an advisory body, sometimes powerful, sometimes a rubber stamp for kings. The...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
