Alberto Martín-Artajo Álvarez (2 October 1905, in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

– 31 August 1979, in Madrid) was a legal technocrat for the Nationalist government during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

and for the succeeding reign of

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

Francisco Franco, and a Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Foreign Minister from 1945 to 1957. Ideologically, he was not a

Falangist Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...

(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. During the time of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, he had been a member of the

Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right The Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (, CEDA), was a Spanish political party in the Second Spanish Republic. A Catholic conservative force, it was the political heir to Ángel Herrera Oria's Acción Popular and defined itself in te ...

(CEDA, existed 1933–1937). He received his secondary education at Our Lady of Remembrance College, Madrid. Martín-Artajo earned a law degree from the University of Madrid. He became a staff attorney of the Council of State in 1931. During the Republic, Martín-Artajo worked closely with

Ángel Herrera Oria Ángel Herrera Oria (19 November 1886 – 28 July 1968) was a Spanish journalist and Roman Catholic politician and later a cardinal. He established the Instituto Social León XIII (later renamed Fundación Pablo VI) to promote the social doct ...

, the director of the Catholic newspaper ''El Debate'' and belonged to the lay " National Catholic Association of Propagators of the Faith" (''propagandistas''). 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 The Junta Técnica del Estado (Spanish for: ''Technical State Junta'') was one of several political-administrative bodies created by General Franco in October 1936 after his appointment as head of government of rebel Spain during the Spanish Civ ...

(State Technical Council), Franco's cabinet, and to the Nationalist government's Labor Ministry. In 1940, Generalissimo Franco appointed him president of the mass movement,

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, I ...

. In 1945, Martín-Artajo participated in the drafting of the quasiconstitutional "

Fuero (), (), () or () is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin , an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms and , and the Portuguese terms and ; all ...

of the Spanish People", a list of rights, freedoms, and responsibilities. In July 1945, fresh after the defeat of the Third Reich, 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. After consulting with the

Primate of Spain The Primacy of the Spains ( pt, Primaz das Espanhas; es, Primado de las Españas, ca, Primat de les Espanyes) is the primacy of the Iberian Peninsula, historically known as Hispania or in the plural as the Spains. The Archbishop of Braga, in ...

, 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 Spain's isolation. On 8 March 1953, Martìn-Artajo received the Ancient Order of Sikatuna for his "exceptional and meritorious services to the Republic of the Philippines", becoming the first person to be given the honor after its creation. He effectuated the signing of the Concordat with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

in August 1953, the bilateral

Pact of Madrid The Pact of Madrid, signed on 23 September 1953 by Francoist Spain and the United States, was a significant effort to break the international isolation of Spain after World War II, together with the Concordat of 1953. This development came at a ...

with the United States the following September, 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.

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