In July, 1974, Spain finally stood at the threshold of the momentous political transition that many had hoped for and just as many had feared for at least thirty years. An attack of phlebitis placed the life of the eighty-one-year-old Generalissimo Francisco Franco in grave danger and forced him, for the first time, to relinquish the powers of chief of state, which were temporarily transferred to his chosen successor, Prince Juan Carlos de Borbon, who will presumably soon become king of Spain, in any event.