Hipólito Yrigoyen
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| Terms of Office: | October 12, 1916– October 12, 1922 and October 12, 1928– September 6, 1930 |
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| Predecessors: | Victorino de la Plaza and Marcelo T. de Alvear |
| Successors: | Marcelo T. de Alvear and J. Félix Uriburu |
| Vice-presidents: | Pelagio Luna and Enrique Martínez |
| Date of Birth: | July 12, 1852 |
| Place of Birth: | Buenos Aires |
| Date of Death: | July 3, 1933 |
| Place of Death: | Buenos Aires |
| Profession: | Landowner |
| Political Party: | Radical Civic Union |
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen Alem (July 12, 1852 – July 3, 1933) was twice President of Argentina (from 1916 to 1922 and again from 1928 to 1930). Yrigoyen was popularly known as el peludo (The mole) due to his beady eyes. Pro-Yrigoyen political supporters were known as "personalistas", a rude suggestion that they were sycophants of Yrigoyen, anti-Yrigoyen elements, not surprisingly, were known as "anti-personalistas". One of the tragedies of Argentina is that Argentina reached its pinnacle of world political power (in 1929, it had the world's 4th largest gross domestic product) during the Yrigoyen years, and has not approached that level of world influence since those times.
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[edit] Freedom activist
Born in Buenos Aires, Yrigoyen worked as a school teacher before entering politics. In 1891 he co-founded the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical), together with his uncle, Leandro Alem. Following Alem's suicide in 1896, Hipólito Yrigoyen assumed sole leadership of the Radical Civic Union. It adopted a policy of intransigency, a position of total opposition to the regime known as "The Agreement". Established by electoral fraud, this was an agreed formula among the political parties of that time for alternating in power. The Radical Civic Union took up arms in 1893 and again in 1905. Later, however, Yrigoyen adopted a policy of nonviolence, pursuing instead the strategy of "revolutionary abstention", a total boycott of all polls until 1912, when President Roque Sáenz Peña was forced to agree to the passage of the Sáenz Peña Law, which established secret, universal, and compulsory male suffrage.
[edit] First presidency (1916–1922)
Yrigoyen was elected President of Argentina in 1916. He frequently found himself hemmed in, however, as the Senate was appointed by the legislatures of the provinces, most of which were controlled by the opposition. Several times, Yrigoyen resorted to federal intervention by declaring a state of emergency, which deepened the confrontation with the establishment. Yrigoyen was popular, however, among middle class voters, who felt integrated for the first time in political process, and the Argentinian economy prospered under his leadership. Yrigoyen preserved Argentine neutrality during World War I, which turned out to be a boon, owing to higher beef prices and the opening up of many new markets to Argentina's primary exports (meat and cereals). Argentina was known as the barn of the world, and its gross domestic product placed it among the wealthiest nations on earth. Constitutionally barred from re-election, Yrigoyen was succeeded by Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear.
[edit] Second presidency (1928–1930)
On the expiration of Alvear's term in 1928, Yrigoyen was overwhelmingly elected President for the second time. In his late seventies, he found himself surrounded by aides who censored his access to news reports, hiding from him the reality of the effects of the Great Depression, which hit towards the end of 1929. On December 24 of this year he survived an assassination attempt. Fascist and conservative sectors of the army and the intelligentsia (such as Leopoldo Lugones) plotted openly for a regime change. On September 6, 1930, Yrigoyen was deposed in a military coup by José Félix Uriburu. This was the first military coup since the adoption of the Argentine constitution.
[edit] Twilight years
After his overthrow, Yrigoyen was placed under house arrest and confined several times to the island of Martín García. He died in Buenos Aires.
| Preceded by: Victorino de la Plaza |
President of Argentina 1916–1922 |
Succeeded by: Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear |
| Preceded by: Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear |
President of Argentina 1928–1930 |
Succeeded by: José Félix Uriburu |
