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| 1960–74 |
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| The Spanish economy grew at an unprecedented rate, second in the world only to Japan. Employment in the agricultural sector dropped from 42 percent of the labor force in 1969 to 23 percent) in 1975, while employment in the industrial sector rose from 32 percent to 37 percent in the same period. The formal end of Franco's policies of economic autarchy brought massive increases in foreign investment: from $40 million in 1960 to $697 million in 1970. The number of tourists visiting Spain also contributed to economic recovery. In 1960, 6 million tourists visited Spain; in 1982, 42 million did. Spaniards working abroad and sending money back to their families further added to the nation's growing prosperity. Whereas emigrant remittances had been $362 million in 1965, by 1973 they were $1.1 billion. Prosperity, coupled with the expansion of welfare benefits for the nation's working classes, acted to provide a measure of legitimacy to Franco's rule. | 1 |
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| 1960, June 13 |
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| In a letter to their bishops, 342 Basque priests protested police brutality toward political prisoners and violations of civil rights. In the Basque provinces as well as Catalonia, a good portion of the opposition to the regime had its origins in lay organizations and the lower levels of the church hierarchy. | 2 |
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| 1963, Aug. 10 |
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| The government announced plans to grant some autonomy to the provinces of Rio Muni and Fernando Po, comprising Spanish Guinea. | 3 |
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| 1964, Dec. 14 |
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| A new constitution, mildly liberal, was approved by an overwhelming vote in national elections. | 4 |
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| 1969, July 22 |
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| PRINCE JUAN CARLOS DE BORBON, son of Don Juan, was named by Gen. Franco as his eventual successor and heir to the Spanish throne. | 5 |
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| Oct. 2 |
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| Visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to Spain, in the course of a Mediterranean tour. Relations between the U.S. and Spain had remained close in view of the use of Spanish bases by American air and naval units, in return for which the United States had provided large sums of money for Spain's economic and military development. | 6 |
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