page_title: Antonio Iturmendi Bañales
section_title: Hierarch
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Iturmendi Bañales / Hierarch
caption_attribution_description: English: Juan Carlos de Borbón, Prince of Spain in 1971.
context_page_description: Antonio Iturmendi Bañales was a Spanish Carlist and Francoist politician. He is best known as the Minister of Justice, serving in 1951–1965, as the Cortes speaker, serving in 1965–1969; he held the parliamentarian ticket between 1949 and 1976. He is also noted as briefly a civil governor and Tarragona and Zaragoza provinces in 1939. Though not counted among key decision-makers of the Francoist regime, he is considered instrumental in thwarting the Falangist attempt to re-define the system in the mid-1950s, and in the process of implementing the Alfonsist restoration in the 1960s.
context_section_description: Since 1949 Iturmendi was continuously member in the Cortes by virtue of his seat in the Falangist Consejo Nacional. His parliamentary ticket was renewed in 1952, 1955, 1958, 1961 and 1964; since 1952 he held double eligibility because of his ministerial job. In 1965 he ceased as minister of justice to enable his taking seat of the Cortes speaker. The role was held by Esteban Bilbao until he resigned due to his age; as the most senior collaborative Traditionalist and the disciple of Bilbao Iturmendi inherited the job. The speaker role automatically made him president of Consejo del Reino and Consejo de Regencia, peculiar diarchic structures giving credibility to quasi-monarchic nature of the Francoist Spain. In this triple role Iturmendi enjoyed the most prestigious and distinguished positions available to civilians within the regime, even though there was very little if any political power formally attached to any of them.
  It is not entirely clear what was Iturmendi's position in terms of practical politics, except that he remained utterly loyal to Franco. Some scholars counted him among key Juanista or Juancarlista supporters already since the late 1950s. Others note that faced with two overlapping sets of rivalries within the government - technocratic monarchists versus regentialists and immovilistas versus reformists - Iturmendi preferred not to take a firm stand and fluctuated. It is clear that he kept opposing the syndicalist hardliners; during 1967 works on Ley de Representacion Familiar he blocked the Falangists from entering the draft committee and ultimately ensured liberalization of the electoral law. He also remained on ice-cold terms with Hugocarlista supporters; when two of their MPs faced legal action related to so-called Cortes Transhumantes activity Iturmendi refused any assistance. His monarchist efforts were finally crowned in 1969, when Don Juan Carlos was nominated the future king of Spain; Iturmendi played a personal role in the ceremony since it was in front of him as president of the Cortes that the royal hopeful swore fidelity to the Francoist leyes fundamentales.
  In late 1969 Iturmendi resigned as president of the Cortes, Consejo del Reino and Consejo de Regencia; he quoted his age and declared withdrawal from active politics. This did not prevent his 8th consecutive appointment to the Cortes in 1971, since not having resigned his seat in the National Council of the Movimiento he still automatically qualified as procurador. His last term lasted unexpectedly long as the parliament was not dissolved until his death; similarly he also retained membership in Consejo Nacional. Already a septuagenarian, he usually remained politically passive. However, in the early 1970s he was noted for joining forces with Traditionalist Carlists in an attempt to build Hermandad de Maestrazgo, an organization supposed to counter the progressive Hugocarlista bid to control Carlism. Following the death of Franco Iturmendi was counted among “40 de Ayete”, direct Franco appointees to the Council and to the Cortes still serving; others name him “pata negra franquista”.
caption: Juan Carlos, Prince of Spain
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