José Ibáñez Martín

His involvement in politics began during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, and was reflected in his holding a number of political positions: Deputy Mayor of Murcia, President of the Provincial Government de Murcia. Between 1927 and 1930 was a member of the National Assembly; during the Second Republic he was one of the promoters of the group Acción Española, which brought together the leading intellectuals of the authoritarian monarchical right, and represented the province of Murcia in Parliament (1933).

After the Civil War he was one of the linchpins of the rebuilding the new state. His field of action was the adaptation of all aspects of education, for which he was minister between 1939 and 1951, where he organised the different levels of education and created the National Research Council (CSIC). He was also a Deputy of the Cortes (1943-1967), President of the Council of State (1951-58) and Ambassador to Portugal (1958-69). In 1967 he was appointed Honorary President of the CSIC.

He belonged to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1956), the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Law (1962) and the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Science (1967).

He held numerous Spanish awards, including: The Gran Collar of Alfonso X the Wise and the Great Crosses of Carlos III, Isabella the Catholic, Alfonso XII, of the Order of Cisneros, of San Raimundo de Peñafort; and several foreign awards: San Gregorio (Vatican), Libertador (Argentina) and the Order of the Sun (Peru).

He was awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Santiago de Chile (1938), Seville (1956), Oviedo (1960) and the Pontificia University, Salamanca (1966).