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President of the Republic (Spain)

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"President of Spain" redirects here. Not to be confused with Prime Minister of Spain.

President of the Republic
Presidente de la República (Spanish)
Presidential Monogram
Longest servering
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
11 December 1931–7 April 1936
StyleHis Excellency
TypeHead of state
StatusAbolished
PrecursorKing of Spain
Formation14 April 1931
First holderNiceto Alcalá-Zamora
Final holderManuel Azaña
Abolished3 March 1939
Superseded byFrancoist dictatorship
DeputyPresident of the Cortes republicanas

President of the Republic (Spanish: Presidente de la República) was the title of the head of state during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The office was based on the model of the Weimar Republic, then still in power in Germany, and a compromise between the French and American presidential systems.[1] The "Republican Revolutionary Committee" set up by the Pact of San Sebastián (1930),[2] considered the "central event in the opposition to the monarchy of Alfonso XIII",[3] and headed by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, eventually became the first provisional government of the Second Republic, with Alcalá-Zamora named President of the Republic on 11 December 1931.

Spain is one of the democracies (see President of the Government for the full list of countries) where the term "president" does not solely refer to the head of state but to several distinct offices: President of the Republic for some historical heads of state; President of the Government for the head of the executive; President of the Senate for the speaker of the upper parliamentary chamber, and so on. This has led to some confusion in countries where the term "president" refers solely to the head of state, such as the United States; several incidents involved high-profile American politicians calling the Spanish head of government "President", including George W. Bush in 2001,[4] Jeb Bush in 2003,[5] and Donald Trump in September 2017.[6] With Spain a constitutional monarchy since 1975, the monarch is head of state.

First Spanish Republic (1873–74)[edit]

Main article: First Spanish Republic

Following the abdication of Amadeo I on 10 February 1873, the short-lived First Republic (1873–74) had four heads of state (officially, Presidents of the Executive Power): Estanislao Figueras, Pi i Margall, Nicolás Salmerón, and Emilio Castelar.[7] On the eve of the pronunciamiento of 3 January 1874, General Pavia sent for Francisco Serrano y Domínguez take to the leadership. Serrano took the title of president of the executive and he continued at the end of December 1874 when the Bourbons were restored by another pronunciamiento.

Presidents of the Executive Power of the First Republic[edit]

No. Portrait Name
(born–died) 		Term of office Political party Ref.
Took office Left office Time in office
1 Estanislao Figueras
(1819–1882) 		12 February 1873 11 June 1873 119 days Federal Democratic Republican Party
2 Francesc Pi i Margall
(1824–1901) 		11 June 1873 18 July 1873 37 days Federal Democratic Republican Party
3 Nicolás Salmerón
(1838–1908) 		18 July 1873 7 September 1873 51 days Progressive Party
4 Emilio Castelar
(1832–1899) 		7 September 1873 3 January 1874
(deposed) 		118 days Republican Possibilist Party [es]
5 Francisco Serrano y Domínguez
(1810–1885) 		3 January 1874 30 December 1874 361 days Constitutional Party

Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939)[edit]

Following the abdication of Alfonso XIII on 14 April 1931, there was no official head of state, meaning that the Prime Minister was, in effect, the highest office in the land. Niceto Alcalá-Zamora assumed the new role of President of the Republic, the effective head of state, after the approval of the new Constitution in December 1931. Manuel Azaña remained as Prime Minister, head of the government, until 12 September 1933.

Presidents (Prime Ministers) of the Provisional Government of the Republic[edit]

No. Portrait Name
(born–died) 		Term of office Political party Ref.
Took office Left office Time in office
1 Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
(1877–1949) 		14 April 1931 14 October 1931 183 days Liberal Republican Right
2 Manuel Azaña
(1880–1940) 		14 October 1931 11 December 1931 58 days Republican Action

Presidents of the Republic[edit]

No. Portrait Name
(born–died) 		Term of office Political party Ref.
Took office Left office Time in office
1 Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
(1877–1949) 		11 December 1931 7 April 1936 4 years, 118 days Liberal Republican Right
– Diego Martínez Barrio
(1883–1962)
acting 		7 April 1936 11 May 1936 34 days Republican Union
(Popular Front)
2 Manuel Azaña
(1880–1940) 		11 May 1936 3 March 1939 2 years, 296 days Republican Left
(Popular Front)

With Franco's victory imminent, a National Council of Defense was established to negotiate a peace settlement with the Nationalists. By this point, Franco effectively had military control of the whole country.

Presidents of the National Council of Defense (Republican Zone)[edit]

No. Portrait Name
(born–died) 		Term of office Political party Ref.
Took office Left office Time in office
– Segismundo Casado
(1893–1968)
acting 		4 March 1939 13 March 1939 9 days Military
1 José Miaja
(1878–1958) 		13 March 1939 27 March 1939 14 days Military

Fall of the Republic[edit]

On 27 February 1939, after both France and the United Kingdom had recognised Franco's military victory, President Manuel Azaña, exiled in France, resigned. The following week, the so-called Casado Coup against Prime Minister Negrín's government[8] led to the creation of the National Defence Council which attempted, unsuccessfully to negotiate terms, with Franco breaking off talks motu proprio.[9] Following Franco's final offensive at the end of March 1939, the Republic fell.

Presidents of the Spanish Republic in exile (1939–1977)[edit]

Main article: Spanish Republican government in exile
No. Portrait Name
(born–died) 		Term of office Political party Ref.
Took office Left office Time in office
– Diego Martínez Barrio
(1883–1962)
acting 		4 March 1939 11 May 1940 1 year, 68 days Republican Union
(Popular Front)
– Álvaro de Albornoz
(1879–1954)
acting 		11 May 1940 17 August 1945 5 years, 98 days Independent
1 Diego Martínez Barrio
(1883–1962) 		17 August 1945 1 January 1962 † 16 years, 137 days Republican Union
(Popular Front)
2 Luis Jiménez de Asúa
(1889–1970) 		11 February 1962 16 November 1970 † 8 years, 319 days Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
(Popular Front)
3 José Maldonado González
(1900–1985) 		16 November 1970 1 July 1977 6 years, 227 days Republican Left
(Popular Front)

Timeline[edit]

José Maldonado GonzálezLuis Jiménez de AsúaDiego Martínez BarrioManuel AzañaDiego Martínez BarrioNiceto Alcalá-ZamoraManuel AzañaNiceto Alcalá-ZamoraFrancisco SerranoEmilio CastelarNicolás SalmerónFrancisco Pi i MargallEstanislao Figueras

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1993) Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931–1936, pp. 62–3. Univ of Wisconsin Press. Google Books. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  2. ^ Conversi, Daniele (2000) The Basques, the Catalans, and Spain: Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilisation, p. 38. University of Nevada Press. Google Books. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  3. ^ Preston, Paul (2002) Revolution and War in Spain, 1931–1939, p. 192. Routledge. Google Books. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Joint Press Conference with President George W. Bush and President Jose Maria Aznar" The White House. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Jeb Bush slips on Spanish history" CNN. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Donald Trump's tweet on Mariano Rajoy's visit to the United States". Twitter. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  7. ^ The official name of " Executive Power " between 1868 and 1874, designates a transitory and undefined authority without a constitutional configuration.
  8. ^ "War in Spain: Casado's Coup" TIME. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  9. ^ (in Spanish) "Segismunco [sic] Casado: el final de una guerra" ABC. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
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