| Luis Muñoz Marín | |
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In office January 2, 1949 – January 2, 1965 |
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| Preceded by | Jesús T. Piñero, last Presidentially-appointed Governor of Puerto Rico |
| Succeeded by | Roberto Sánchez Vilella |
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In office 1941 – 1949 |
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| Preceded by | Rafael Martínez Nadal |
| Succeeded by | Samuel R. Quiñones |
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| Born | February 18, 1898 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Died | April 30, 1980 (aged 82) San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Political party | Popular Democratic
Party |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Muna
Lee (married 1919, divorced 1947) (2) Inés Mendoza (married 1947) |
| Children | Luis and Munita (first marriage) Viviana and Victoria (second marriage) |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University |
| Profession | Journalist, Politician, Poet |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898 – April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico",[1][2] he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader. Following the death of his father, he began writing poetry, eventually publishing two books. After a brief involvement with the Socialist Party, he began developing an ideology based on independence. In 1932, he joined a newly-formed Liberal Party and ran a successful bid for senator. In 1937, Muñoz Marín was expelled from the Liberal Party and created a group known as Acción Social Independentista. One year later, he took part in the foundation of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico. This party won a majority in the Senate of Puerto Rico, with Muñoz Marín serving as its president. In 1947, the United States Congress passed legislation that allowed Puerto Rico to elect its own governor. Consequently, Muñoz Marín ran a successful campaign for the position, taking office on January 2, 1949.
He worked with the Congress for the creation of a Constitution, which was a key element to change the status of Puerto Rico to Estado Libre Asociado or "commonwealth". Muñoz Marín was re-elected three times, serving a total of sixteen years as Governor, all of them representing the Popular Democratic Party. In 1963, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1970, Muñoz Marín retired from politics, spending his later life as a traveler. On April 30, 1980, he died due to health complications. Muñoz Marín's funeral gathered attention throughout Puerto Rico, being attended by thousands of followers.
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Luis Muñoz Marín was born on February 18, 1898 at 152 Calle de la Fortaleza in Old San Juan. He was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera and Amalia Marín Castilla. His father was a poet and a politician, responsible for founding two newspapers, El Diario and La Democracia. Days before Luis' birth, he traveled to Spain and presented a proposal of autonomy for Puerto Rico, which was accepted.[3] His father was elected to serve as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico and Chief of the Cabinet for the independent Government of Puerto Rico. On August 12, 1898, Puerto Rico was annexed to the United States, following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War. His father assisted in establishing an insular police force, but opposed the military colonial government that was established by the United States, eventually resigned from office on February 4, 1899.
His great-grandfather, Luis Muñoz Iglesias, was born on October 12, 1797, in Palencia, Spain. great-grandfather served in the Spanish Army, where he received several recognitions, after participating against Simón Bolívar during the Admirable Campaign. Once the conflict was over, he traveled to Puerto Rico along his commanding officer, Miguel de la Torre. He subsequently settled in a farm in Cidra and married María Escolástica Barrios.[4][5]
When Muñoz Marín was three years old, a group of statehood supporters broke into the El Diario's building, vandalizing most of the equipment.[6] Following this incident, the family moved to Caguas. After receiving further threats from the statehood movements, the family decided to move to New York City.[6] There Muñoz Marín learned English, while his father founded the bilingual newspaper Puerto Rico Herald. During the following years, the family constantly traveled between both locations.[7] His father founded the Unionist Party in Puerto Rico, which won the election in 1904. Following the party's victory, he was selected as a member the House of Delegates.[7]
Muñoz Marín began his elementary education at William Penn Public School in Santurce, a district of San Juan.[8] During this time the American colonial government tried to change Puerto Rico's main language and most classes were taught in English. Muñoz Marín was briefly assigned to first grade, but his knowledge in the language was too advanced and he was placed in second grade.[8] He completed this year, but failed to pass third grade. The teacher cited that he had a short attention span and lack of interest.[8] In 1908, Muñoz Marín was enrolled in a small private school in San Juan. Working with a teacher named Pedro Moczó, he covered all the material taught to students between third and eight grade in two years, passing with good grades.[9]
In 1910, his father was elected Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States Congress. Muñoz Marín briefly moved to New York with his mother before moving to Washington, D.C., after his father insisted. In 1911, he began his studies at the Georgetown Preparatory School, but disliked the institution's strict discipline and failed the tenth grade.[10] In 1915, his father enrolled him at Georgetown University Law Center, but Muñoz Marín was uninterested in the subject matter, instead wanting to become a poet. In late 1916, Muñoz Marín and his mother were called to Puerto Rico by Eduardo Georgetti, a friend of the family, who informed them that his father was suffering from an infection that had begun in the gallbladder, but was starting to expand throughout his body. His father, Luis Muñoz Rivera, died on November 15, 1916.[11]
A month later both returned to New York, where Muñoz Marín sold his law books and refused to return to Georgetown.[12] Within a month, he published a book titled Borrones, composed of several stories and an act play. For several months, he served as the congressional clerk to Félix Córdova Dávila, who succeeded his father as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.[13]
Muñoz Marín married American writer Muna Lee on July 1, 1919.[14] Lee, from Raymond, Mississippi, was a leading Southern feminist and a rising writer of Pan-American poetry.[15] The couple lived in poverty during the first months of their marriage, establishing residence in Staten Island.
In 1920, Muñoz Marín was selected to deliver a check to Santiago Iglesias, the president of Socialist Party of Puerto Rico. Enthusiastic with the idea of meeting him, they moved to Puerto Rico where the couple's first daughter, Munita, was born.[16] Upon arriving, he noticed that some of the landowners were paying the jíbaros—the mountain dwelling peasants of Puerto Rico— two dollars in exchange for their votes. He immediately joined the Socialist Party, a decision that was regarded as a "disaster" by his family.[17][18] In October 1920, the Socialist Party recruited members of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico in order to win upcoming elections. Disappointed, Muñoz Marín moved to New Jersey with his family. Shortly after, his first son, Luis Muñoz Lee, was born.
In 1923, he returned to Puerto Rico alone to publish a book covering several of his father's unpublished works into a book compendium. This took nearly two years, with a book titled Political Campaigns being published. Two years later, Antonio R. Barceló, who was the president of a newly formed Coalition, called Muñoz Marín to work in La Democracia.[19] After experiencing problems with members of the party's Republican faction, due to autonomist material in his works, he returned to New York alone. Here he wrote for The American Mercury and The Nation.
In 1931, after traveling throughout the United States, Muñoz Marín noticed the instability of the country's economy. Deciding that independence was the only way to resolve Puerto Rico's economic and social problems, he borrowed money from a group of friends and returned to the main island.[20] Upon arriving, he discovered that Hurricane San Felipe Segundo had destroyed most of the sugar crops where the jíbaros worked, leaving the majority unemployed.
By the 1930s, Puerto Rico's political scenario had changed, the only party that was actively asking for independence was the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. That organization's president, Pedro Albizu Campos, occasionally visited Muñoz Marín. He was impressed by the substance of Albizu's arguments, but their styles to achieve autonomy and social reforms were different.[21] In 1932, Barceló abandoned the Coalition, which by this time had weakened, seeking to establish a new independence movement. Barceló employed several of Muñoz Marín's ideas of social and economic reforms and autonomy, using them to form the ideological belief of a newly formed Liberal Party.[21] Muñoz Marín joined the Liberal Party and lead La Democracia, which had become the party's official newspaper. He believed that the only way to directly work with the reforms he promoted was by becoming an active politician.[21] Most of his discourses discussed ways to provide more land, hospitals, food and schools to the general public.
On March 13, 1932, Muñoz Marín was nominated by the party for the post of senator. Although the party lost the 1932 elections, Muñoz Marín received enough votes to receive a position in the Puerto Rican Senate.[22] Shorty after, Rudy Black, a reporter for La Democracia arranged a meeting between him and Eleanor Roosevelt. Muñoz Marín wanted her to examine Puerto Rico's problems personally and convinced her to travel to the main island.[23] Five months later, Roosevelt was received in Fort San Felipe del Morro and La Fortaleza, before traveling to El Fanguito, a poor sector that had received the impact of an hurricane. Images from the visit were published by newspapers in Puerto Rico and the United States, which outraged former American governors that ruled over the archipelago, as well as the incumbent.[24] Following his wife's report, Franklin D. Roosevelt included Puerto Rico in the New Deal program. Muñoz Marín became a popular political figure due to his involvement in the program.[24]
In 1937, political disagreements between Muñoz Marín and Antonio R. Barceló led to his expulsion from the Liberal Party. This was mostly based on disagreements on how to bring independence to Puerto Rico. When a congressman wanted to "punish" Puerto Rico for the assassination of an American police officer, he proposed a bill called the "Tydings Bill".[25] Some independence supporters wanted to support the bill, but Muñoz Marín disagreed comparing it to a principle known as Ley de Fuga, where a police officer would arrest someone and kindly release him before shooting them in the back while retreating.[25] This led to his expulsion, severely affecting his public image. He would then create a group named Acción Social Independentista (ASI) ("Pro-Independence Social Action") which would later become the Partido Liberal Neto, Auténtico y Completo. This organization served as opposition to the Liberal Party, which continued being headed by Antonio R. Barceló.[17]
In 1938, Muñoz Marín would help in the creation of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (Partido Popular Democratico). The party's ideology promised to help the jíbaros, regardless of political belief, promoting the creation of minimal wages, initiatives to provide food and water, cooperatives to work with the agriculture and the creation of more industrial alternatives.[26] Muñoz Marín concentrated his political campaigning in the rural areas of Puerto Rico. He attacked the then common practice of paying off rural farm workers to influence their vote, insisting that they "lend" their vote for only one election. The party's first rally attracted a solid participation, which was unexpected by the other political parties.[27] During his campaign he met Inés Mendoza, who would later become his second wife.[17] Mendoza was a teacher who had been fired after complaining about the United States' prohibition of teaching classes in Spanish. Both discussed the matter and agreed that substituting "one language for another is to diminish that country's capacity to be happy".[28] Mendoza joined the campaign directed towards the jíbaros. Muñoz Marín and Muna Lee had separated, and he asked Mendoza to "stay with him all his life".[29] Due to the party's low income, he would sometimes spend the night at a jíbaro's house.[30]
In 1940, the Popular Democratic Party won a majority in the Senate of Puerto Rico, a result which was attributed to the campaigning he did in the rural areas. Muñoz Marín was then elected the fourth President of the Senate.[31] A month later, his partner Mendoza gave birth to a daughter, who they named Victoria in commemoration of the victory.[32] During his term as President of the Senate, Muñoz was an advocate of the working class of Puerto Rico.[33] Along with Governor Rexford Tugwell, the last non-Puerto Rican Governor of Puerto Rico appointed by a US President, and the republican-socialist coalition which headed the House of Representatives, he would help advance legislation geared towards agricultural reform, economic recovery and industrialization.[32] This program became known as Operation Bootstrap. It was coupled with a program of agrarian reform (land redistribution) which limited the area that could be held by large sugarcane interests. During the first forty years of the 20th century, Puerto Rico's dominant economic product were sugarcane by-products. Operation Bootstrap enticed investors to transfer or create manufacturing plants, offering them local and federal tax concessions, while maintaining access to American markets free of import duties.
The program facilitated a shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy. The 1950s saw the development of labor-intensive light industries, such as textiles; manufacturing later gave way to heavy industry, such as petrochemicals and oil refining, in the 1960s and 1970s. Jíbaros were taught in Spanish and taught to work in jobs being promoted by the government.[34] Muñoz Marín backed legislation to limit the amount of land a company could own. Muñoz Marín's development programs brought some prosperity for an emergent middle class. The industrialization was in part fueled by generous local incentives, and freedom from federal taxation, while providing access to continental US markets without import duties. A rural agricultural society was transformed into an industrial working class. Muñoz Marín also launched Operación Serenidad ("Operation Serenity"), a series of projects geared towards promoting education and appreciation of the arts.[35]
Operation Bootstrap was criticized by civil rights groups and the Catholic Church, who perceived that the government promoted birth control encouraging surgical sterilization and fostered the migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States.[36]
During the early stages of World War II several Puerto Ricans were drafted to serve in the United States Army, which eased overpopulation in the main island. Muñoz Marín promoted the construction of public housing projects to resolve this problem.[37] During the war he established low-interest scholarships and loans for the residents that weren't drafted. To attend health issues, costless public clinics were opened throughout Puerto Rico.[37]
In 1944 the Popular Democratic Party repeated the political victory of the previous elections. Muñoz Marín and Lee divorced on November 15, 1946. His decision to live with another woman without completing the process, attracted criticism from political adversaries. The following day, on November 16, 1946, Muñoz Marín married Inés Mendoza. The couple's first daughter was Viviana Muñoz Mendoza. In 1947, the Congress approved legislation allowing Puerto Ricans to elect its own Governor. Muñoz Marín successfully campaigned for the post, thus becoming only the second Puerto Rican and the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.[31]
Muñoz Marín officially took office on January 2, 1949. He held the post of Governor for sixteen years, being re-elected again in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 elections. In 1957, Marín received a Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.) from Bates College. Once the amount of illiteracy and other social problems were reduced, the party began debating how to establish an autonomous government.[38] Muñoz Marín then reunited with his government officials, ultimately the group agreed to adopt an "Associate Free State" format that had been proposed by Barceló decades before. In Spanish the proposal's name remained unchanged, but was changed to "Commonwealth" in English translations, to avoid opposition from any congressman that could confuse it with another status, such as statehood.[38] The main goal of the proposal was to move Puerto Rico away from colonialism by giving it a degree of autonomy and a constitution, while keeping political ties with the United States.[38]
During his terms as governor, a Constituent Convention of Puerto Rico, of which he was a member, was convened in which the Constitution of Puerto Rico was drafted. It was approved by the United States Congress in 1952. Not pursuing Puerto Rican Independence angered many followers of Muñoz's Popular Democratic Party, who then formed the Puerto Rican Independence Party soon after.[39]
Another faction confronted Muñoz Marín for his change of status preference, this was the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, led by Albizu Campos. On October 30, 1950, a group of Puerto Rican nationalists attacked the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza, as part of a revolt which included the Jayuya Uprising and the Utuado Uprising. These acts angered Muñoz Marín, who activated the National Guard and ordered the arrest of Nationalists including Albizu Campos.[39] Subsequently, the Muñoz Marín administration employed the power of law 53, known as Ley de Mordaza (lit. "the gag law") to arrest thousands of Puerto Ricans without due process, including pro-independence supporters that were uninvolved in the uprisings.[40]
The inauguration acts for the establishment of the Estado Libre Associado took place on July 25, 1952. Security for the event was tightened to avoid any incident, with invitations being issued.[41] Muñoz Marín feared that the new status could affect the Puerto Rican culture or "Americanize" the archipelago's language.[42] Trying to work with this concern, the government began promoting cultural activities, founding the Pablo Casals Festival, Music Conservatory and Puerto Rico's Institute of Culture.[42]
In the 1950s, most jíbaros pursued works in factories instead of agriculture, trying to avoid having to deal with the losses that hurricanes produced. A massive migration from Puerto Rico to New York continued throughout the decade. Muñoz Marín expressed that the he "did not agree with" the "continuing situation", claiming that the "battle for good life, should not have all its emphasis placed on industrialization. Part of it must be placed on agrigulture."[42] However, American critics felt that he encouraged the migration to reduce overpopulation.[42] Despite efforts to produce more agricultural work, the migration persisted.[42] Muñoz Marín was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 6, 1962, by United States President John F. Kennedy.[43]
By 1964, Muñoz Marín had been governor for sixteen years. A group of young members of the Popular Democratic Party felt that he should retire.[44] The group completed a proposal suggesting that he resign the position, which also included a limit of two terms for elected officials.[44] The group named themselves Los veinte y dos ("The twenty-twos") and began running a campaign, where they would call civilians asking for support. Victoria, Muñoz Marín's youngest daughter joined the group, which he didn't oppose.[45] The day before the party had an assembly to elect their candidates, he announced his decision of not running for another term. Muñoz Marín recommended his Secretary of State, Roberto Sánchez Vilella, for the party's candidacy. The crowd vocally protested his decision, calling for "four more years", to which he responded by saying "I am not your strength... You are your own strength."[45] Sánchez Vilella would go on to be elected Governor.
After leaving the post of Governor, Muñoz Marín would continue his public service as a member of the Puerto Rico Senate until 1970. In 1968, Muñoz had a serious dispute with Governor Sánchez Vilella. Muñoz, who was still an influential figure inside the Popular Democratic Party, decided not to support Governor Sánchez's reelection bid for another term in 1968. Governor Sánchez then purchased the franchise of The People's Party (Partido del Pueblo) and decided to run for governor under this new party.[40] Several members of the Popular Democratic Party voted for Sánchez, thus leading to the party's first electoral defeat, and the election of Luis A. Ferré. Muñoz Marín and Sánchez Vilella's friendship was severely strained after this.
After resigning his senate seat in 1970, Muñoz Marín temporally moved to Italy, where his daughter, Viviana, had established residence.[45] During this time, he traveled various destinations in Europe, including France, Spain and Greece. He would return to Puerto Rico two years earlier, where he began writing an autobiography.[46] He also promoted the gubernatorial candidacy of the senate's president Rafael Hernández Colón, the new leader of the Popular Democratic Party. [40]
Late in his life, Muñoz Marín's health weakened. On January 5, 1976, he suffered a severe stroke, which temporary affected his ability to move, read and speak.[47] On April 30, 1980, Luis Muñoz Marín died at the age of 82, after suffering complications from a severe fever, which left him without physical strength.[48] His funeral became an island-wide event, dwarfing his own father's funeral in 1916, and attended by tens of thousands of followers.[48]
Muñoz's tenure as governor saw immense changes in Puerto Rico. The island was shifting from mainly rural to an urban society; second-generation Puerto Ricans in the United States now outnumber those from the archipelago. Puerto Rico achieved degrees of autonomy it never had seen; a constitution was written. However, to some, the idealist and nationalist of Muñoz's youth had required a Faustian accommodation with the might and wealth of United States. To some, Muñoz had abandoned the youthful adherence to Puerto Rican Independence and instead cemented Puerto Rico's current commonwealth status. Others see Luis Muñoz Marín as the person who heralded the modern Puerto Rico.
Muñoz Marín was featured twice on the cover of Time magazine.[49][50] The articles called him "one of the most influential politicians in recent times, whose works will be remembered for years to come." His daughter, Victoria Muñoz Mendoza, also became involved in the politics of Puerto Rico, and in 1992 ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor. The main civil airport on the island of Puerto Rico bears his name – Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport – as well as other institutions, particularly those directed towards education.
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| Preceded by Rafael Martínez Nadal |
President of the Senate of Puerto
Rico 1941–1949 |
Succeeded by Samuel R. Quiñones |
| Preceded by Jesús T. Piñero |
Governor of Puerto
Rico 1949–1965 |
Succeeded by Roberto Sánchez Vilella |
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Luis Muñoz Marín (1898-02-18 – 1980-04-30) was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician. He was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico and is considered one of the most important 20th century political figures in the Americas.
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