US Public Diplomacy and Democratization in Spain: A Practitioner’s View

Abstract

I arrived in Spain as a Fulbright lecturer in American Studies in the fall of 1975, just two months before Francisco Franco’s death brought an end to his 36 years of authoritarian rule. In 1982, I returned to Spain as an assistant cultural affairs officer assigned to the US Embassy in Madrid, shortly before the elections that brought Felipe Gonzalez and his Socialist party to power. My time in Spain during what proved to be a critical period in its history provided me with a fascinating perspective on the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy.