Joaquín Ruíz-Giménez

Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez Cortés (Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid, August 2, 1913 - Madrid, August 27, 2009) was a Spanish politician and jurist. He was minister of Education under Franco (1951-1955) but he drifted apart from the regime since 1956 and, adopting a Christian Democrat position, steadily started to promote a quiet transition to democracy, especially through Cuadernos para el Diálogo magazine. He was considered one of the most relevant figures of the moderate inner opposition to Francoism. Failing to play a relevant role during the 1977 democratic elections, he was later elected as the first Spanish Ombudsman.

Ruiz-Giménez was son of Joaquín Ruiz Jiménez, Liberal politician who was minister twice under Alfonso XIII and mayor of Madrid. While student at the University of Madrid, he participated actively in the students’ catholic organizations and in 1935 he was elected secretary-general of the National Catholic Students Confederation. After the Civil War broke out he was imprisoned several times, but finally released he sought asylum at the Panamanian embassy, and thus he was evacuated to Marseilles via Valencia. Then, he joined the Nationalist Army and served in the front of Segovia, Teruel and Maestrazgo. After the war, he graduated in Arts and held a doctorate in Law. He was appointed councilor at the Madrid city council and the same time he was Law professor at the University of Madrid. He was elected president of the Pax Romana organization between 1939 and 1946. He collaborated actively in the redaction of the Fuero de los Españoles, i.e. a sort of bill of rights promulgated by Franco in 1945. He was appointed director of the Hispanic Culture Institute (1946-1948) and ambassador to the Holy See (1948-1951), where he negotiated the terms of the 1953 Concordat.

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