[2] His father, Basilio Oreja Echaniz, settled in the Biscay Ibarrangelu and since the late 1870s also practiced as a doctor,[3] in the early 20th century briefly serving also as a mayor.

[7] Ricardo became one of the Gipuzkoan party leaders; he was elected to the Cortes in 1920 and 1923,[8] during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship serving as gobernador civil of the Santander province.

Profoundly religious though falling short of exalted religiosity,[20] Oreja commenced his public activity during the academic period in the very last years of the Restoration era.

[23] Based in Madrid, Oreja emerged as number two in the organization, becoming its secretary general;[24] he is credited for “inflammatory[25] harangues, opposing secularism in education and advocating Catholic integrity as an academic foundation.

[26] Some time afterwards, still acting on ACNdP initiative, he went on to build another Christian youth organization, Juventud Católica Española, somewhat broader in scope than CEC and more tied up with the parochial network.

In 1924 Oreja entered its first Comisión Ejecutiva and became member of the propaganda section,[27] travelling extensively across Spain, organizing JCE structures and taking part in various congresses,[28] described as “vibrant and effusive” speaker.

[29] In 1925 Oreja joined the ACNdP executive, nominated consejero nacional of the organization[30] and rising to one of its key figures, on friendly terms with Angel Herrera Oria.

Oreja enrolled at Columbia University, studying administration and journalism;[33] he was also gaining hands-on familiarity with top American newspapers, collaborating with Boston Globe and New York Times.

[36] Back in Spain, ACNdP seconded him to El Debate, a dynamic daily owned by a controlled publishing house, Editorial Católica;[37] Oreja entered the executive board and became its manager.

[46] In early 1930s Marcelino Oreja succeeded his father-in-law as managing director of Unión Cerrajera,[47] at that time somewhat of a hybrid between a typical joint-stock company and a cooperative.

[50] Oreja represented a new breed of managers, attempting to defuse social conflict with a social-Catholic mixture of papal teachings of Leo XIII and traditionalist corporativism of Juan Vázquez de Mella.

[55] Having developed a reputation for being authoritarian,[56] he was considered prime enemy by the local UGT branch,[57] especially that Oreja pledged never to employ a socialist or an anarchist,[58] a statement which might be indicative of both his corporativist and Basque leanings.

[59] Following in footsteps of his older brothers, as a teenager Oreja was active in local Carlist structures; together with Ricardo and Benigno he defected to the secessionist Mellist branch of Traditionalism in 1919.

[69] He contributed to the so-called Estella Statute[70] and kept supporting autonomous regulations even when the government-imposed draft moved religious issues from regional to central portfolio.