On 11 March 2004, that consensus began to shift. After Franco, there was a subconscious agreement on both sides not to discuss it – the last thing anyone wanted to do was to ignite another civil war. “That government reintroduced divisions – it was their country, they believed. The imminent death of Franco was a headline story on NBC News for a number of weeks prior to his death on November 20, 1975. D. He received support from the Soviet Union

Franco lingered near death for weeks before dying.

He then entered a naval secondary school with the goal of following his father and grandfather into a sea-based military career. “There are those who think he was a terrible dictator; those who think he saved Spain from Communism; and those who just don’t want to address it.”. A. Prince Juan Carlos was sworn in as King of Spain on 22 November 1975. Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was born on December 4, 1892, in El Ferrol, a small coastal town on Spain’s northwestern tip. The flowers on Francisco Franco’s tombstone today, the 40th anniversary of his death, will be as fresh as on any other day. The death of Francisco Franco, Spanish Caudillo, during the first season of NBC's Saturday Night served as the source of the phrase. Mr Martínez Soler thinks this result would be an opportunity to end the division at last. In Madrid alone, there are still more than 150 streets and squares named after his ministers and military officers and, although the country long ago came in from the cold and embraced democracy, his memory and his legacy are never far from the surface. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. "[4] It was also used now and then on NBC News Overnight in the early 1980s, and Keith Olbermann occasionally used it on Countdown.

The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. They restored rancour and hate in Spain.”. Doctors said the cause of death was heart failure aggravated by peritonitis. The European Commission expressed "sympathy and friendship for the people of Spain" and condolences to General Franco's widow. However, during Franco's final years, the title, "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead", Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Generalissimo Franco Is Still Dead, but for Some Not Dead Enough", Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Generalissimo_Francisco_Franco_is_still_dead&oldid=964366757, Articles needing additional references from September 2014, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 June 2020, at 02:47. In Britain, Labour backbenchers are furious that the government is sending a representative - Lord Shepherd, the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords - to the funeral. How did Francisco Franco gain power? Francisco Franco, general and leader of the Nationalist forces that overthrew the Spanish democratic republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39); thereafter he was the head of the government of Spain until 1973 and head of state until his death in 1975. The most important was the Historical Memory Law, which gave rights to families of the victims and specifically condemned the dictatorship. Terrorist attacks on Madrid’s Atocha railway station killed 191 people.

As a critic and a survivor of Franco’s brutal reign, he sees the potential for a bright future, despite the country’s preference to forget its difficult and divided past. The financial crisis, which hit Spain severely and ended Mr Zapatero’s hopes of a second term, also scuppered any further plans for reform.

King Juan Carlos led Spain to democracy and in 1977 for the first time in four decades free and fair elections were held.

C. He was elected head of the Spanish government. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Some regions such as the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia were given a great deal of autonomy, which was then extended to all Spanish regions. Spain’s then-prime minister, José María Aznar, the leader of the centre-right People’s Party (PP), which had become home to the old members of Franco’s government, had been a member of George W Bush and Tony Blair’s coalition in Iraq a year earlier. "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still valiantly holding on in his fight to remain dead. On slow news days, United States network television newscasters sometimes noted that Franco was still alive, or not yet dead. The letter was the last he wrote to his family before he was executed.

Journalist, José Martínez Soler

Why Spain is still coming to terms with the legacy of its civil war, Read more Dig up Franco to let victims rest in peace, says Spanish commission, Judge in the dock to defend himself over Franco investigation, Franco's minister quits Spanish politics, aged 89, Barcelona topples the final reminder of Franco's regime, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. He was buried at the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum that was built on his orders by prisoners of the Spanish Civil War. But Spain was dogged by separatist violence in a long-running campaign by the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) to promote Basque independence. Francisco Franco led a successful military rebellion to overthrow Spain's democratic republic in the Spanish Civil War, subsequently establishing an … The newspaper used it once again on its front page in the headline "Generalísimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead – But for some not dead enough" on August 21, 2015 when it reported about critics calling to enforce a 2007 anti-Franco law in Madrid and to rename streets and plazas, after the last election had ended the 24-year reign of conservatives in the city council. If that happens, maybe at last we can have unity, “The PP under Aznar was full of the sons and grandsons of Franco’s men,” said Mr Martínez Soler, who was sacked as a television news presenter days after Mr Aznar won power in 1996. “If that happens, maybe at last we can have unity in Spain.”, The Valle de los Caídos, near Madrid: Franco’s tomb is situated near the Valley of the Fallen, where lie the remains of 40,000 victims. In 1978 a new constitution confirmed Spain as parliamentary monarchy.

"I ask pardon of all my enemies, as I pardon with all my heart all those who declared themselves my enemy, although I did not consider them to be so," the general had said. Learn more about Franco in this article. "This breaking news just in", Chase would announce – "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead! Francisco Franco in the 1960s: for decades, Spain did not address his legacy, and even now his countryfolk are divided on the subject – although many would prefer to forget about it … Until age 12, Franco attended a private school run by a Catholic priest. After Franco's death, Chevy Chase, reader of the news on NBC's Saturday Night's comedic news segment Weekend Update, announced Franco's death and read a quotation from Richard Nixon: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States. He said that on his deathbed General Franco had asked his enemies to forgive him. It was one of the first catchphrases from the series to enter the general lexicon. Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Francisco Franco. The fact that 40,000 victims of the civil war that saw him swept to power are buried at the site only adds to the feeling that, although Franco is gone, he cannot be forgotten. But for 30 years before that, it was as though Spain was frozen in time.”. The issue of the brutal civil war, which between 1936 and 1939 left more than half a million people dead and led to Franco’s almost four-decades-long dictatorship, still divides Spaniards. [8], The correct spelling in Spanish is in fact 'Generalísimo'. “I would like to see a grand coalition of left and right,” he says. Under Franco Spain has enjoyed stability and relative prosperity, especially after reforms introduced since 1959 that modernised administration and industry.

The Prime Minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, his voice trembling with emotion, announced the death at 1000 local time on radio. “It was from 2004 that Zapatero’s government felt confident enough to deal with the issue. In a veiled warning to resist separatist movements such as the Basque nationalist group ETA, he advised the nation to "keep the lands of Spain united". "Generalissimo[a] Francisco Franco is still dead" is a catchphrase that originated in 1975 during the first season of NBC's Saturday Night (now called Saturday Night Live, or SNL) and which mocked the weeks-long media reports of the impending death of Francisco Franco. He led an uprising against the Popular Front government. [6], Although SNL's use is perhaps the most widely known, it is predated by the "'John Garfield Still Dead' syndrome," which originated as a result of extensive coverage in the wake of the actor John Garfield's death and funeral in 1952. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. Alistair Dawber wonders if the nation can ever achieve real unity, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile.

The phrase has remained in use since Franco's death.

Origin In 2013, it experienced a brief resurgence in a different context, when it began appearing on social media a few days after the death of Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco. ", The phrase is listed in The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases.

Spaniards go to the polls next month in elections that could lead to the first post-dictatorship coalition. He also asked the Spanish people to remain loyal to Prince Juan Carlos, his designated successor who will be sworn in as king tomorrow.