José Ibáñez Martín (18 December 1896 in Valbona, Aragon – 21 December 1969 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

) was a Spanish politician who was a long-serving member of the Cabinet of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...

. From 1939 to 1967 he also served as President of the

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council ( es, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote res ...

Biography

A supporter of

Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...

in his youth, Ibáñez Martín served as a deputy for 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 ...

(CEDA). He was a leading member of the ''Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas'' (ANCP), the propaganda movement that formed the basis for the Catholic monarchist party Popular Action. Thrwoing his lot in with the Nationalist side in 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 Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, he became staunchly loyal to Francisco Franco, to the point where critics accused him of sycophancy, and he even compared Franco to

Fernán González of Castile Fernán González (died 970) was the first autonomous count of Castile. Fernán González was a colourful character of legendary status in Iberia, and founder of the dynasty that would rule a semi-autonomous Castile, laying the foundations for it ...

due to ''El Caudillo'' founding a "new Spain". However Ibáñez Martín spent most of the civil war out of the country as Franco had despatched him to

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

with a mission to promote the Nationalist cause amongst the Spanish-speaking people there. Appointed as Minister of Education in succession to

Pedro Sainz Rodríguez Pedro Sainz Carlos Rodríguez (1897 in Madrid – 1986) was a Spanish writer, philologist, publisher and politician, an adviser to Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and one of the main architects of the reign of Juan Carlos I of Spain and ...

in 1939, a post he held until 1951, Ibáñez Martín oversaw the dismantling of the republican education system and its replacement with one based largely on the values and ideas of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Highly reactionary in his Catholicism, Ibáñez Martín was impressed by

Josemaría Escrivá Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (9 January 1902 – 26 June 1975) was a Spanish Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic priest. He founded Opus Dei, an organization of Catholic Laity, laypeople and Priesthood (Catholic Church), priests ...

and as Minister of Education in the early 1940s he ensured that members of

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work a ...

would no longer be hindered in the efforts to obtain teaching posts at universities, a move that helped the organisation grow considerably in power. Although not a member of Opus Dei Ibáñez Martín felt a bond to the movement due to his close friendship with

José María Albareda José María Albareda Herrera (Caspe, 15 April 1902 - 26 February 1966, Madrid) was a Spanish soil scientist and science administrator. From its 1939 creation by Francoist Spain to his 1966 death, he was the secretary general and head of the H ...

, the two having met during the civil war whilst sheltering in the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an embassy in

. He enjoyed a growth in influence in the immediate aftermath of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as Franco sought to trim his cabinet of anybody who had declared support for the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. As a result, Ibáñez Martín was given control over the press as well as retaining his role as Education Minister. His decision to rejoin to the ANCP in 1944, at the time somewhat controversial, had thus in fact helped his prospects as there had been little common ground between the monarchists and the pro-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

wings of Franco's movement.Paul Preston, ''The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in Twentieth-Century Spain'', Routledge, 1995, p. 118 Ibáñez Martín was the Spanish ambassador to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

from 1958 to 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibanez Martin, Jose 1896 births 1969 deaths Education ministers of Spain Spanish monarchists Spanish Roman Catholics Ambassadors of Spain to Portugal Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic