He led the party through the Spanish transition to democracy, carrying it to a strong second-place finish in the 1977 general election, making the PSOE the main opposition to the ruling Union of the Democratic Centre, a position it maintained in 1979.

By the time of Franco's death, González had become the most prominent figure among the left-wing of the democratic opposition to the regime, and played a critical role, along with then serving Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, in the Spanish transition to democracy.

During the Suárez government, General and Deputy Prime Minister Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado asked González not to raise the debate of the Civil War and Francoist repression until the death of those of his generation.

[3][4] In the first democratic general election after Franco's death, held in 1977, the PSOE became the second most-voted for party, and this served González to appear as a young, active and promising leader.

[5] With a large majority in the Congress of Deputies, popularly known as "the roller" (Spanish: el rodillo),[6] González's election was met with tremendous expectation of change amongst Spaniards.

[11] Left with no other suitable candidate, the party was again led by González and in the 1996 general election held on 3 March 1996, they gained 37.4% of the vote and 141 deputies.

They lost the election to the People's Party whose leader José María Aznar replaced González as prime minister (presidente in Spanish, not to be confused with the English use of the term) on 4 or 5 May 1996.

The Gonzalez government left behind a deep impact on the Spanish real economy, such as the expansion of the networks of highways and airports and the creation of new infrastructures, including high-speed rail in Spain.

Gonzalez-led cabinets were the first to implement a national, comprehensive infrastructure program that included not only public works but theatres, museums, and secondary schools.

[citation needed] Felipe González also secured Spain's entry into the EEC, which the country joined in 1986, and consolidated democratic government.

[further explanation needed][15] Together with François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl, he revitalized efforts to push for European integration and extension of state power.

The bilateral Israeli–Palestinian negotiations eventually led to the exchange of letters and the subsequent signing of the Oslo I Accord, on the lawn of the White House on 13 September 1993.

During his time as Prime Minister a group called GAL was active as a gangster-style force targeting etarras (ETA members).

Several innocent people were killed and the subsequent investigations ended with some police officers and the Minister of Internal Affairs, José Barrionuevo, condemned to jail.

[citation needed] However, in the final years of his mandate several cases of corruption, the most notable of which were the scandals involving Civil Guard Director Luis Roldán, further eroded popular support for the PSOE.

Nonetheless González and most of his ministers generally managed to leave office with their reputations intact, although they had performed poor oversight of some lower ranking public servants, according to María Antonia Iglesias (La memoria recuperada.

Lo que nunca han contado Felipe González y los dirigentes socialistas, 2003); Iglesias is very close, though, to the PSOE official line, as she served as head of the public TV broadcaster Televisión Española after appointment to the post by one of Gonzalez's cabinets.

On 27 July 2007 the Spanish Government appointed him plenipotentiary and extraordinary ambassador for the bicentenary celebrations in commemoration of the independence of Latin America.

[22] From 2010 to 2015, González was appointed independent director in Gas Natural-Fenosa, one of the leading energy companies in Spain, being one of the best known high-profile cases of revolving doors in Spanish politics.

González then supported Susana Diaz faction in a bitter internal struggle which ended with PSOE facilitating the investiture of the conservative government and the dismissal of Pedro Sánchez.

[27] González is a member of the Club of Madrid,[28] an independent non-profit organisation composed of 81 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries.