Suárez González, Adolfo

Suárez González, Adolfo (ädôl`fō swä`rāth gōnthä`lĕth), 1932–, Spanish political leader. Because he worked in the Nationalist Movement (the Falange) for 18 years and became its secretary-general after Franco's death (1975), centrist and leftist forces opposed his appointment in July, 1976, as premier by King Juan Carlos. In 1977 he led his Democratic Center Union to victory in Spain's first free elections in 41 years. His centrist government instituted democractic reforms, and his coalition again won the 1979 elections under the new constitution. Less successful as a day-to-day organizer than as a crisis manager, he was replaced as premier in 1981. In 1982 he founded the Democratic and Social Center party. He retired from active politics in 1991.

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Suárez González, Adolfo 

Born Sept. 25, 1932, in Cebreros, Avila Province. Spanish political and state figure; lawyer. Member of the Spanish Trial Law Institute and corresponding member of the Institute of Political Studies.

Suárez studied law at the universities of Salamanca and Madrid. He became active in the National Movement in 1958 and served on the party’s staff from 1960 to 1964. Suárez was civil governor of Segovia Province in 1968 and 1969 and director general of Spanish radio and television from 1969 to 1973. In March 1975 he assumed the post of vice-secretary-general of the National Movement.

As secretary-general of the National Movement, Suárez in December 1975 was given a ministerial post in the first post-Franco government of Spain. He became prime minister in July 1976. In the parliamentary elections of June 1977 he headed the coalition of centrist parties known as the Union of the Democratic Center (UDC). In August 1977 the coalition became a political party with Suárez as its leader. In 1981 he was named honorary chairman of the UDC. Suárez resigned as prime minister in 1981.