Yrigoyen, Hipolito

In 1891, together with his uncle Leandro Alem, was one of the founders of the Civil Radical Union; before that he worked as a school teacher and was not involved in politics. In 1896, after the suicide of his uncle, the leader of the GDS, he became the new leader of the party. In 1916, shortly after the adoption of Law 8871 on universal mandatory suffrage for men, he was elected president of the country.

The first presidential term (1916-1922)

Under the leadership of Hipolito Yrigoyen, Argentina did not intervene in the First World War and enriched itself in the trade in agricultural products - the basis of its exports. Despite a series of incidents with warring countries, his government managed to defend Argentina's national sovereignty. Yrigoyen condemned the First World War and the Versailles System ^[2] , although he was attacked by internal pro-British forces. At the same time, it brought him the popularity of the Argentine people ^[3] . Supporting the idea of ​​creating the League of Nations , he advocated maximizing the number of its future members, which would help to avoid growing contradictions between countries and deprive the richest states of their advantages. Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear and Romulo Naon publicly called Yrigoyen a Germanophile . They were followed by the United States, interested in weakening Argentina's position on the American continent. The biographer of Yrigoyen wrote that “not a single person in the history of the country was so loved and at the same time so hated as President Yrigoyen” ^[3] . However, the ability to unite the people in the name of national interests gave rise to some researchers to call him "Argentine Gandhi" ^[2] .

During his reign, great attention was paid to the development of education and social security. In particular, working legislation appeared, the number of schools and universities increased, and the number of illiterates decreased. A numerical increase in the working class entailed the intensification of the strike movement, including on the railway. The Yrigoyen government was initially set up for dialogue with the strikers, but under pressure from Britain, which owned half of all Argentina's railways, any strikes on rail transport were prohibited. On January 10, 1919, a general workers' strike was held, in 1920-1921. - a number of large strikes among the peasants, some of them were brutally suppressed (for example, the uprising of farm laborers in Patagonia in 1921) ^[4] .

In January 1919, the Mexican ambassador to Argentina, Amado Nervo, died. His body was sent to his homeland on the cruiser Nueva de Julio . On the way to Mexico, the ship entered the port of the Dominican Republic , occupied in 1916 by US troops . The captain of the cruiser, not knowing in honor of which flag (American or Dominican) to give him a salvo, sent a request to Buenos Aires. To a telegram, Yrigoyen replied: "Enter the port and salute the national flag of the Dominican Republic." This caused US irritation ^[5] .

Second Presidential Term (1928-1930)

In 1922, Yrigoyen, who did not have the right to run for a second term, was succeeded by his fellow member Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear , who, however, represented another, right-wing party faction. In 1928, after the end of de Alveara’s term, Yrigoyen was re-elected president. One of the main election slogans of Yrigoyen was the nationalization of oil, which, however, could not be carried out. Despite some economic successes during his first term in office, Yrigoyen was unable to cope with the consequences of the global economic crisis , and on September 6, 1930 he was removed from power by the military under the leadership of Generals Jose Felix Uribiru and Agustin Pedro Justo . It is noteworthy that the coup was carried out by only 1,500 soldiers who occupied the capital and achieved the resignation of the president and government. One of the rebels was Juan Domingo Peron - the future president of Argentina. After the coup, Yrigoyen was sent into exile on the island of Martin Garcia ^[6] . After being released in February 1932, Yrigoyen spent the rest of his days under house arrest in Buenos Aires.

• Ermolaev V. I. Essays on the history of Argentina. - M .: Sotsekgiz , 1961 .-- 588 p.
• Stroganov A.I. Recent History of Latin America. - M .: Higher school , 1995. - S. 415. - ISBN 5-06-002830-5 .
• Kazakov V.P. Hipolito Yrigoyen: President-reformer of Argentina (20s of XX century) // New and modern history. 2009. No. 2. P. 164-176.