Gabriel Arias-Salgado

Gabriel Arias–Salgado Montalvo (3 March 1904 – 26 July 1962) was a Spanish politician of Falangist ideology, who held positions during the Franco dictatorship.

Known for his views related to Catholic fundamentalism,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn he joined the Falange during the course of the Civil War, embarking on a rapid rise in his political career. During the dictatorship, he played an important role in censorship, holding the positions of Vice-Secretary of Popular Education and, later, Minister of Information and Tourism. Likewise, he was also a solicitor in the Francoist courts and a member of the National Council of the Movement.

Biography

Early years

Born in Madrid on 3 March 1904,Template:Sfn he studied at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo de Chamartín. Subsequently, he graduated in Classical Languages and Humanities,Template:Sfn also receiving a doctorate in philosophy and specializing in theology.Template:Sfn

In 1937, after the Civil War had started, he joined the rebel zone. A man from Catholic fundamentalism,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn he would later become a convinced Falangist.Template:Sfn During the war he joined FET and the JONS,Template:Sfn making a rapid political career within the incipient Franco regime. In August 1938, he was appointed director of the Falangist weekly Libertad based in Valladolid, which under his direction began to be published on a daily basis.Template:Sfn At that time he also held the position of civil governor of Salamanca,Template:Sfn as well as that of provincial head of FET and of the JONS.Template:Sfn

Vice Secretary of Popular Education

In September 1941, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of Popular Education.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn From then on, Arias-Salgado was in charge of powers such as the regime's press or propaganda; until then these had been powers under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.Template:Refn Among some of its measures was the founding of the Official School of JournalismTemplate:Sfn – whose inauguration in 1942 was attended by Arias-Salgado and Juan Aparicio,Template:Sfn and the creation of the NO-DO – acronym for "News and Documentaries" – on 26 September 1942.Template:Sfn In the Vice Secretary for Popular Education, he had the close collaboration of Juan Aparicio, national press delegate.Template:Sfn On the contrary, he had frequent confrontations with Ramón Serrano Suñer,Template:Sfn who was foreign minister who recently had controlled the press. He would also maintain bad relations with Serrano's successor, Francisco Gómez-Jordana, in relation to published information on foreign policy.Template:Sfn

File:AriasSalgado1943.jpg

Gabriel Arias-Salgado with Otto Dietrich, in Berlin (1943).Template:Refn

A GermanophileTemplate:Sfn and sympathizer of the fascist powers,Template:Sfn in January 1943 he was part of the entourage that accompanied the Minister-Secretary General José Luis Arrese on his visit to Nazi Germany,Template:Sfn along with other prominent Falangists, such as Manuel Valdés Larrañaga, Agustín Aznar, Manuel Martínez de Tena, Víctor de la Serna and Xavier de Echarri.Template:Sfn In these years the press used to follow the victories of the Axis with greater attention, while silencing the military defeats of Germany and Italy.Template:Sfn This situation also occurred in the cinema, where Arias-Salgado enthusiastically introduced Nazi propaganda material, while taking care to exclude informational propaganda material from the Allies.Template:Sfn Coinciding with the end of World War II and the defeat of the fascist powers, Arias-Salgado and other pro-Nazis were losing weight within the Franco dictatorship.Template:Sfn In July 1945, the Vice Secretary for Popular Education was dissolved,Template:Sfn and its powers was transferred to the Ministry of National Education.Template:Sfn

During these years, he also held other positions, becoming the national press and propaganda delegate for FET and the JONS, attorney of the Francoist courts and a member of the National Council of FET and the JONS.Template:Sfn

Minister of Information and Tourism

Considered the main theoretician and architect of Franco's censorship, he was placed in charge of the recently created Ministry of Information and Tourism,Template:Sfn a position he held from July 1951 to 1962.Template:Sfn His appointment came to constitute a reinforcement of official control on information.Template:Sfn An integrist Catholic,Template:Sfn during his ministerial stage Arias-Salgado exercised strong control over the Spanish press.Template:Sfn The writer and propagandist José María Pemán came to describe him as "one of the most ferociously good men."Template:Sfn In the ten years that he was in charge of the ministry, he directed the information policy from a staunch sectarianism; Arias-Salgado himself went so far as to affirm: "All freedom for the truth, no freedom for error".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn During these years, the Francoist cultural model was consolidated, although other new forms of communication appeared, such as television.Template:Sfn

However, his political career came to an end in 1962. At the instigation of Arias-Salgado himself, during the month of June of that year, the official press of the regime launched a harsh campaign against the Spanish participants in the IV Congress of the European Movement, presenting a distorted imageof the meeting and coming to refer pejoratively as the "Munich Conspiracy".Template:Sfn This campaign, however, ended up having a very negative effect on the image of the Franco regime in Europe and even on the image of the minister himself.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfn In this context, he left the government and was replaced by Manuel Fraga.Template:Sfn

On 26 July 1962, just a few days after his dismissal, he died of a heart attack on the stairs of his home in Madrid.Template:RefnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Family

He was the brother of Alejandro Arias-Salgado y de Cubas, who was imprisoned during the first years of Francoism. On 1 April 1942, his sentence was commuted to confinement.

He was the father of politician Rafael Arias-SalgadoTemplate:Sfn and the diplomat Fernando Arias-Salgado.Template:Sfn