Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez (25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was Prime Minister of Spain from 3 July 1976 to 25 February 1981, succeeding Fernando de Santiago y Diaz and preceding Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo. He was Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister since the Spanish Civil War, oversaw the legalization of all political parties, and led the Union of the Democratic Center.
Biography[]
Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez was born in Cebreros, Spain, and he received a doctorate from the University of Madrid, rising quickly in the bureaucracy of the Franco regime to become director-general of radio and television from 1965 to 1968 and from 1969 to 1973. As director of the Falange from 1975, he prevented its opposition to the post-Franco reforms. King Juan Carlos I appointed him Prime Minister in 1976 to oversee the establishment of a democratic government, and in close cooperation with the King Suarez effected this with the Law of Political Reform of 18 November 1976. With his party, the Union of the Democratic Center, he won the ensuing elections of 1977. However, his popularity declined owing to the economic crisis consequent upon the 1979 world recession. The stability of the political system was seriously challenged by continued terrorist attacks by the Basque ETA. He resigned in 1981, weeks before the attempted coup of that year. Having lost the support of his own party, he founded the Democratic and Social Center, which gained but two seats in 1982. These elections, therefore, ended the first stage of the country's democratization, to which he had been such a crucial contributor, and heralded its second stage under the leadership of Felipe Gonzalez. He retired from politics in 1991, from public life in 2003, and died in 2014.