I used to visit Spain during the last few years of Francisco Franco's regime. The middle class small business owner that I knew liked him for keeping Spain stable in the post World War years: Communism was identified as the enemy. Tourism was booming and the economy was growing fast. The Guarda Civile had a lot of power but generally left people alone.
I met Spainards who lived under Franco , tradespeople, farmers who were able to emigrate to America. They hated him. Until any native-born American has lived in a real dictatorship none of us can know what tyranny is really like. For my money Franco was a murdering leftist thug.