Abstract
During the second half of the 1950s, Spain received economic and technological assistance from the Western bloc, which encouraged a transformation of the country’s socioeconomic structures. Spanish political leaders adopted a technocratic approach to increase the efficiency and economic growth of the State. However, they also aimed to normalize relations and establish commercial agreements with Eastern European countries as a form of external support for their new economic policy. After years of exploiting anti-Communism to enhance political stability, many Spaniards became suspicious of the Soviets and were convinced of the threat that their political ideology represented. To depoliticise such relations and mobilise consensus, the press developed a new rhetoric towards the Soviet Union. This had a significant impact on how scientific and technological news were presented in Spanish newspapers, particularly when reporting on the progress of the space race and nuclear physics.