José Solís Ruiz (27 September 1913 – 30 May 1990) was a Spanish politician, known for his role in Francoist Spain, during which he occupied a number of important posts. As a member of the Military Legal Corps, during Franco's regime he became civil government of several provinces, national representative of Trade Unions and the Secretary General of the FET y de las JONS party, a primary component of the "National movement". As such, he had a prominent role in the regime's policies during their developmental stage. Among the adopted measures was the enactment of the National Movement Principles Act, one of the regime's fundamental laws. An easy-going and jovial person, he quickly became one of the most popular figures of the dictatorship and was known as "the smile of the regime". Biography Youth and Training He was born on 27 September 1913 in the town of Cabra in Cordoba, into a family of small agricultural land owners in Andalusia. He was the son of Felipe Solís Villechenous – the Mayor of Cabra during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera – and Eduarda Ruiz Luna. He studied law at the University of Deusto and the University of Valladolid. As part of the "old guard" of the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista(FE de las JONS), he came to take part in the Civil War in support of the Nationalists. During the conflict he would reach the rank of provisional alférez. At the end of dispute, he joined the opposition Technical Trade Union Ministry, where he held the seat of Secretary of the National Metalworkers' Trade Union, a part of the national trade union center. He was part of the Military Legal Corps, which he entered through opposition. As such, in 1941 he acted as prosecutor in the trial against a group of anarchist members of the Maquis, whom Solís accused of sabotage and of wanting to restore the Republic. They would finally be sentenced to death and executed. In 1944 he was enlisted as secretary to the General Vice-Secretary of Social Ordinance, a body in charge of trade union issues, among others. Although technically an "old guard" of the Falange Española, Solís spent much of his professional career as an Army legal officer and as a union steward, so he had little contact with the original fascist movement. Role in the Unions In 1946, he was appointed