Alfonso García-Valdecasas y García-Valdecasas (14 May 1904 – 11 April 1993) was a Spanish professor of civil law, lawyer, politician, and founding member of the

Falange Española Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934. History The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (M ...

Biography

Alfonso García-Valdecasas was born on 14 May 1904 in Montefrio,

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. He obtained a doctorate of law from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

in 1925, and became a chair at the university. Together with Fernando de los Ríos,

Luis Jiménez de Asúa Luis Jiménez de Asúa (June 19, 1889 in Madrid – November 16, 1970 in Buenos Aires) was a jurist and Spanish politician. He was vice president of the Spanish parliament and representative of that country before the United Nations. During the ...

, Felipe Sánchez-Román Gallifa, Wenceslao Roces and

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; ; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

, García-Valdecasas resigned from his position as chair in 1929 in protest due to Spanish leader

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, Grandee, GE (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a Spanish dictator and military officer who ruled as prime minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during the last years of the Resto ...

's persecution of student politicians. In 1931, García-Valdecasas joined the parliamentary group known as ''Agrupación al Servicio de la República'' ("The Grouping at the Service of the Republic"), an organization of intellectuals created by José Ortega y Gasset to support

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

politicians. He was soon elected as deputy of the Granada constituency in the

1931 Spanish general election The 1931 Spanish general election for the Constituent Cortes was the first such election held in the Second Republic. It took place in several rounds. Background General Primo de Rivera, who had run a military dictatorship in Spain since 1923, ...

. He was secretary of the parliamentary commission involved in drafting the

Spanish Constitution of 1931 The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was approved by the Constituent Cortes, Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It was the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic (founded 14 April 1931) and was in force until 1 April 1939. This was the sec ...

. In 1932, he left the Agrupación al Servicio de la República to create the ''Frente Español'' (Spanish Front) alongside

José Antonio Maravall José Antonio Maravall Casesnoves (1911 in Xàtiva – 1986 in Madrid) was a Spanish historian and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. Biography Maravall studied philosophy and law at the University of Murcia, where he ...

, Antonio Garrigues Díaz-Cañabate, María Zambrano, Antonio Sacristán Colás, Salvador Lissarrague Novoa, Antonio Bouthelier Espasa, Eliseo García del Moral y Bujalarce and Antonio Riaño Lanzarote. He later became involved with the '' Movimiento Español Sindicalista'' (Spanish Syndicalist Movement, or MES). By March 1933, García-Valdecasas began to collaborate with

José Antonio Primo de Rivera José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella GE (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish fascist politician who founded the Falan ...

, a lawyer and the eldest son of Miguel Primo de Rivera, and the two became founding members of the Falange Española alongside Julio Ruiz de Alda. The Falange Española was a

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

successor group that split from the Movimiento Español Sindicalista. García-Valdecasas participated as a speaker at the founding ceremony of the Falange, which was held on 29 October 1933 at the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid. García-Valdecasas ran under the banner of the Falange in their first election, and was appointed a member of the ''Comité de Mando de Falange'' (Falange Command Committee), alongside cofounders Ruiz de Alda and Primo de Rivera. In November 1933, he ran as a candidate for the right-wing ''Bloque de Derechas'' coalition in Granada, but was replaced by Ramón Ruiz Alonso. He soon retired from parliamentary politics but remained a member of the Falange. After the breakout of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, García-Valdecasas joined the

Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

side, and in 1938 he was appointed Undersecretary of Education by

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. Between 1939 and 1943 he served as the first president of the Institute for Political Studies, an organ of the ''

Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (; FET y de las JONS), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...

'' (FET y de las JONS), successor to the Falange Española and ruling party of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In 1944, he was removed from his position due to his defence of

Juan de Borbón Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg; 20 June 1913 – 1 April 1993), was a claimant to the Spanish throne as Juan III. He was the third son and designated heir of King Alfonso XIII of ...

, count of Barcelona. He then became an attorney in the

Cortes Españolas The Cortes Españolas (), known informally as the Cortes franquistas (), was the name of the legislative institution promulgated by the ''Caudillo'' of Spain Francisco Franco which was established on 17 July 1942 (the sixth anniversary of th ...

from 1943 to 1946, and again from 1967 to 1971, and from 1971 to 1977. García-Valdecasa was a member of the

Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation The Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación'') is a Spanish learned society focused on research and knowledge about legal sciences and legislation. It is headquar ...

(elected on 29 July 1939), the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas (Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, elected 1953), and the

Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...

(from 25 April 1965). He died in Madrid on 11 April 1993 at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:García-Valdecasa, Alfonso 1904 births 1993 deaths Leaders of political parties in Spain National syndicalists Spanish anti-communists Spanish fascists Spanish nationalists Spanish syndicalists Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish Falangists Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic