Let’s get to the situation. A decade after the end of the civil war, the slow thaw began in Spain with the end of self-sufficiency. The first contacts between Franco and the United States to free the country from its international isolation took place in 1951. The ration card was abolished in 1952 when Spanish meat consumption doubled. And in 1953 the famous Madrid Pacts were signed, according to which US President Dwight D. Eisenhower received permission to build military bases in Morón, Zaragoza, Torrejón de Ardoz and Rota in return for significant financial support.
From that moment Spain changed in many ways and nothing was ever the same again. But shortly before that, the “boom” of tourism became apparent. The dictatorship recognized the business and in 1950 the National Institute of Industry created Atesa, the first public company dedicated to promoting the tourism sector. However, the process brought with it a certain fear of openness. In his speech at the end of the year, Franco himself made it clear: “In our external relations, the year 1950 marks the solemn international rectification of the United Nations Convention.” [que había instado a la retirada de embajadores]but without any significant change in teaching positions taking place in our home country.”
The regime was afraid of the new customs that might bring foreign tourists to Spain, and in the spring of 1951 Franco made an urgent call for this First National Congress on Morality on Beaches, Pools and Riverbanks, organized in Valencia by the Episcopal Commission for Morals and Orthodoxy. The aim: “To put an end to the pagan and undressing invasion of foreigners who denigrate the honor of Spain and the Catholic feeling of our homeland.” Moral.”
From this encounter, to which Daniel Blanco dedicated the novel in 2017 “Sins of Summer” (Ediciones B, 2015), a diptych published to disseminate the conclusions, is circulating on the networks – it’s even being sold on used sites. For example, the fifth point was the suggestion to “organize a major national campaign for decency”. So in capital letters. And in the seventh: “It is imperative to ban dancing on beaches and in swimming pools, and even more so in bathing suits, a very serious abuse that is spreading and cannot be tolerated.” The most unusual thing is that the authorities asked for a Permission was sought so that “lay Catholics” could perform “police auxiliaries” functions on the coasts where Spanish and foreign tourists congregated in their little bathing suits.
collarbones
In his book, Blanco asserted that they spent a morning discussing what the individual body parts that remained visible on the beaches represented for morality. And when it came to the collarbones, for example, they disagreed on whether they were decent or indecent because there was a risk that they would be two arrows dangerously pointing to the cleavage. Gender segregation at bathing sites has been established, attempts have been made to ban leaving the water without a robe and even fines have been imposed for wearing a bathing suit that is too short.
But, as expected, none of this was wasted, although in 1958 the episcopal commission continued to insist that “summer is the winter of souls, the time when the devil and the flesh do the greatest harm”. The problem for this very humble and reactionary layer of Spanish society was that the Franco regime was so in need of hard currency that it turned a blind eye. Faced with the influx of tourists, he was forced to convey an image of modernism and shortly thereafter even promoted experimental and avant-garde art. And so, after the first million visitors were registered in 1951, a decade later it was already 15.
