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In 1939, following his victory in the Spanish Civil War, which had been fought since 1936, General Francisco Franco was recognised as the Spanish Head of State by the United Kingdom and France. In the early years of his regime, Franco ruled almost exclusively by decree and was considered to have more power than either Hitler or Stalin had at the height of their powers.
Despite Franco’s power within Spain, the international attitude towards him in January 1946 was largely hostile. The Allied powers, in the aftermath of defeating fascism in the Second World War, viewed Franco as a surviving fascist dictator, tainted by his ties to Hitler and Mussolini, both of whom had assisted his victory in the Spanish Civil War.
Leslie Illingworth’s cartoon was published the day before the inaugural session of the UN Security Council on 17 January 1946. The Council first point of discussion was to be the issue of Spain and Franco. There were calls, especially from the Soviet Union and France, to exclude or sanction Spain until Franco was removed. Illingworth’s cartoon of the diminutive Franco admiring his overexaggerated image in the mirror, suggests the contrast between the opinion the ‘Generalissimo’ had of himself, and that of the international community at large.
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