José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones

Who was José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones?

José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones de León was a prominent Spanish politician in the period leading up to the Spanish Civil War.

Gil-Robles received his masters degree in 1919 and in 1922 he gained by examination the chair of political law in the University of La Laguna. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera he was secretary of the Catholic-Agrarian National Confederation and member of the Writing Council of El Debate. After the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, he participated in and led the Acción Nacional party, later renamed Acción Popular.

In the elections of 1931 he was chosen as a deputy in the Cortes for Salamanca. During the period of the Republic, he maintained the posture of "accidentalism": whether Spain was a monarchy or republic was less important than the law's compatibility with religious principles.

Gil-Robles formed the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right which won the elections of November 1933. To avoid conflicts with leftist parties, President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora invested Alejandro Lerroux, leader of the Radicals, as prime minister instead of Gil Robles, the head of the largest party in the Cortes.