Francoism Is Still Dead

"He was repressive; Spain successfully democratized after his death, while the institutional prestige of the Church collapsed. The Spanish Republic had been anti-clerical, but the government sought to moderate against opposition and prevent anti-clerical violence. Instead, the catastrophist right instigated violence to destabilize the Republic. Franco's conduct in Spain's Civil War, which began as a right-wing coup, was not heroic but brutal and methodical and supported by Mussolini and Hitler. They overstated the crimes of the Republicans, and buried the far greater crimes of the Nationalists, and misunderstood the role of the Soviet Union."

Joshua Tait at The Bulwark writes that, in regarding Francisco Franco of Spain, "[t]he fact that American conservatives were willing to overlook all this in a sympathetic strongman should give today's Hungary enthusiasts pause."