In 1913 he joined a maurist circle in the Ateneo[5] where he socialised with other members of the Maurist Youth such as Melchor Fernández Almagro, Pío Zabala, Antonio Ballesteros Beretta, Pío Ballesteros Álava, Quintiliano Saldaña, Manuel Palacios Olmedo, Rogerio Sánchez and Fernando Suárez de Tangil.

Following the 1923 coup d'état by Miguel Primo de Rivera, Calvo Sotelo lent support to the dictatorship.

[9] Primo de Rivera then appointed Calvo Sotelo as finance minister of the Civil Directory of the dictatorship in 1925, and he served from December 1925 until January 1930.

[10] During his tenure as Minister of Finance, his programme to achieve economic growth featured protectionist, nationalist and interventionist policies.

[11] After the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on 14 April 1931, Calvo Sotelo, because of his prior collaboration with the dictatorship and his fear of being subject to trial, went into exile to Portugal and later France along with other politicians.

[16] After the passing of an amnesty law on 20 April 1934,[17] he returned to Spain with the intention of leaving an imprint on the Alfonsine right,[18] then represented by Renovación Española and led by Antonio Goicoechea.

The foundational manifesto espoused a return to traditional values, through the means of an authoritarian monarchy and the role of the Armed Forces as counter-revolutionary agent.

[27] After the Guardia de Asalto leader José Castillo was killed by falangists at 10 pm on 12 July 1936, a group of Guardia de Asalto and other leftist militiamen led by Civil Guard Fernando Condés went to Calvo Sotelo's house in a government's car[28] in the early hours of 13 July on a revenge mission.

According to all later investigations, the perpetrator of the murder was a socialist gunman, Luis Cuenca, who was known as the bodyguard of PSOE leader Indalecio Prieto.

[33] Sotelo was buried in a public funeral attended by thousands of rightists, many of whom gave the fascist salute, which infuriated the police.

Three members of Guardia de Asalto who protested this were temporarily arrested, while some police from Castillo's barracks felt their unit's honor had been stained by the assassination and demanded an investigation.

"[35] Brian Crozier explains the significance of the killing:[36] It is hard perhaps to convey the enormity of this deed, for it is almost impossible to transport it to other countries and different circumstances.

And that is the point: in Spain in the summer of 1936, the unthinkable had become normal.Anti-republican conspirators led by General Emilio Mola seized the moment, accelerating the military coup that had been plotted since the February election.