He served as Minister of the Navy from 30 November to 4 December 1906 in the government of
Segismundo Moret. He was Minister of Public Education and Belles Artes on two occasions: from 12 March to 31 December 1912 under
José Canalejas; and from 22 March to 10 October 1918 under
Antonio Maura. He was Minister of the Interior on two occasions: from 31 December 1912 to 27 October 1913 and from 9 December to 30 October 1916, both times under the
Count of Romanones. He served as Minister of Housing from 30 April 1916 to 11 June 1917 under Romanotes and García Prieto, and adopted the ideas of the movement known as Regeneracionismo. He enacted two programs. The first, proposed “in defense of Spanish values,” prohibited the issuing, introduction, and announcement in the Spanish market of debt securities and bonds associated with foreign governments. The second program reformed laws for tenants in Spain. He later presented to the Cortes some 22 projects concerning administrative and financial reorganizations and reforms, tax law reforms, monopolies, and economic development. He also successfully enacted a government loan worth billions of
pesetas. During his second term as Minister of Housing (9 November - 5 December 1918), he concerned himself with food supply and transportation issues caused by the
First World War. He proposed some agrarian reforms, but these were not carried out. He then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 7 December 1922 to 15 September 1923 in a new cabinet under García Prieto. During the dictatorship of
Miguel Primo de Rivera, Alba exiled himself to
France but returned in Spain in 1930. He refused to serve as head of the government after the fall of
Dámaso Berenguer. At the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War in 1936, he again exiled himself, this time to
Portugal. He returned to Spain in 1945 but no longer involved himself in politics. ==References==