Arturo Frondizi

"Frondizi" redirects here. For the surname, see Frondizi (surname).

Arturo Frondizi Ércoli^[a] (Paso de los Libres, October 28, 1908 – Buenos Aires, April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher, statesman, and politician. He was elected president of Argentina and governed from May 1, 1958, to March 29, 1962, when he was overthrown in a military coup.

Arturo Frondizi
Official portrait, 1958
32nd President of Argentina
In office May 1, 1958 – March 29, 1962
Vice President	Alejandro Gómez (May–Nov 1958) None (1958–1962)
Preceded by	Pedro Eugenio Aramburu
Succeeded by	José María Guido
National Deputy
In office June 4, 1946 – June 4, 1952
Constituency	Buenos Aires
Personal details
Born	Arturo Frondizi Ércoli October 28, 1908 Paso de los Libres, Corrientes, Argentina
Died	April 18, 1995(1995-04-18) (aged 86) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Resting place	Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción, Entre Ríos, Argentina
Political party	Radical Civic Union (1932–1956) Intransigent Radical Civic Union (1956–1963) Integration and Development Movement (1963–1986)
Spouse	Elena Luisa María Faggionato ​ ​ (m. 1933; died 1991)​
Children	Elena Frondizi Faggionato
Alma mater	University of Buenos Aires
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

A member of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) from the 1930s, Frondizi was one of the leaders who revived that party in the 1940s by founding the Intransigence and Renewal Movement, which opposed the military's role in politics. In 1946, he was elected national deputy for the city of Buenos Aires. In the 1951 elections, he joined the UCR presidential ticket as a vice presidential candidate, alongside Ricardo Balbín, who was defeated by the Peronist ticket.

In 1954 he published "Petroleum and Politics," an exposé of the activities of oil companies in Argentina, and proposed a YPF monopoly over the oil sector. The book would become a bestseller the following year, during the heated debates over the oil contracts signed by Juan Perón and Standard Oil of California. Thanks to this—and the reopening of the magazine Qué!—Frondizi would position himself at the forefront of the political scene, further reinforcing his reputation as an intellectual and a leftist.

During the period after the military coup—dubbed the "Revolución Libertadora" or "Liberating Revolution" by the military—that overthrew Perón in 1955, Frondizi led the radical faction within the UCR that criticized the dictatorship against the faction led by Balbín, which was closer to it. This led to the split of the party and the formation of the Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI). Frondizi and Balbín faced off in the 1958 presidential elections with Peronism banned, and Frondizi won by a landslide, thanks to an agreement he or his entourage made with Perón, under circumstances that remain unclear.

His government was characterized by an ideological shift, inspired by Rogelio Frigerio, towards a type of developmentalism less promoted by the State and more oriented to the development of heavy industry as a consequence of the entry of multinational companies. Its labor, oil and education policies sparked sharp conflicts, with large demonstrations and strikes by the labor and student movements, as well as numerous attacks against the government in which 17 civilians and soldiers were murdered.^[1] Frondizi responded by signing the Conintes Plan, which placed protesters under the jurisdiction of military tribunals and prohibited strikes.

His foreign policy sought closer relations with the United States under John F. Kennedy, but maintained an independent line, supporting the Cuban Revolution, receiving Fidel Castro in Buenos Aires, and even meeting secretly with Che Guevara to try to mediate conflicts between the United States and Cuba, without success. He deepened international relations with Asian countries by making his first presidential visit to Indonesia, India, and Israel, and signed economic agreements with the Soviet Union.

The armed forces demanded that the Frondizi adopt austerity measures, which were drawn up by the Economy Minister Álvaro Alsogaray and which sparked widespread public criticism that eventually led to Alsogaray's resignation. Despite this, Frondizi was able to continue with his development strategy. Continued pressure from the military brought about the retirement of Frigerio as a government advisor in 1961 and of Roberto Alemann, Alsogaray's successor, in 1962.

He was unable to finish his presidential term, as he was overthrown by a coup on March 29, 1962. That day he was detained by the coup military and a decree issued by José María Guido validated his detention without trial for eighteen months, preventing him from participating in the 1963 elections. Frondizi criticized the inauguration and the government of Arturo Illia, who accepted the overthrow of Frondizi and annulled some of his oil contracts.

In 1966 he supported the military coup that overthrew Illia, thinking that the "Argentine Revolution" was an opportunity to make an economic revolution. However, he would abandon that idea when Adalbert Krieger Vasena assumed the Ministry of Economy.

Following the coup, Frondizi favored forming a national front that included Peronism. This stance put him at odds with the wing of the UCRI led by Oscar Alende and led him to break away from the party to create the Movement for Integration and Development (MID), which remained close to Peronism from then on, joining the same electoral fronts. In the presidential elections of March 1973 and September 1973, the MID, led by Frondizi, joined the Justicialist Liberation Front (FREJULI) alongside Peronism and other political forces, emerging victorious with the presidential candidacies of Héctor Cámpora and Perón.

During the dictatorship, which called itself the National Reorganization Process, Frondizi maintained a wait-and-see attitude toward the military regime, while also being critical of some of the economic measures adopted by the de facto government, to which the MID contributed Foreign Minister Oscar Camilión and several mayors. During the Falklands War in 1982, Frondizi and Raúl Alfonsín were the exception in the Argentine political landscape in opposing the conflict.

On April 18, 1995, Arturo Frondizi died of natural causes at the age of 86 at the Hospital Italiano in the city of Buenos Aires.^[2][3]

Early years

The Frondizi brothers, Silvio, Liduvina, Arturo and Risieri; 1915.

Arturo Frondizi was born on October 28, 1908, in Paso de los Libres, province of Corrientes, Argentina. He was the thirteenth child of Isabella Ércoli de Frondizi and Giulio Frondizi.^{[citation needed]} The couple, shortly after marrying, had arrived in Argentina in the early 1890s from the Italian city of Gubbio. Giulio had learned the art of masonry from his father and made a comfortable living as a construction contractor.^[4]

The couple had a total of fourteen children, eight boys and six girls: Luidina (b. 1887), Ubaldo (b. 1888 and died at a young age), and Tersilia (b. 1889), all born in Italy. and Américo (b. 1896, future graduate in pharmacy), María (b. 1897 and died at a young age), Virginia (b. 1899, future primary school teacher), Ricardo Amadeo (b. 1900, future famous English teacher), Giulio (b. 1901, future civil servant), Isabella (b. 1903), Oreste (b. 1905, future civil servant), Silvio (b. 1907, future politician and lawyer, as well as a Trotskyist theorist, who would be assassinated by the Triple A in 1974), Liduvina (b.?), Arturo (b. 1908) and Risieri (b. 1910, future philosopher and rector of the University of Buenos Aires).

The family relocated to Concepción del Uruguay in 1912. Arturo and Silvio traveled in 1923 to the province of Buenos Aires, accompanied by their father. They attended the Mariano Moreno National School, where Risieri would also study later. In 1925, before completing the last year of high school, Arturo tried to enter the Colegio Militar de la Nación, but was deferred.

Arturo Frondizi (4th from left to right) during his tenure on Club Almagro where he played in the 4th division.

Arturo was a poor student until his late teens, more interested in sports such as soccer and boxing than in his studies. In the mid-1920s, Frondizi played soccer as a defender in the lower ranks of Club Almagro. In 1926, he suffered a serious injury to his arm as a result of a bad fall while playing.^{[citation needed]}

During those last years of high school, he turned his life around, beginning to focus more on his studies, putting aside games and sports. In this way, during the fifth year, his grades began to improve. Already recognized as a distinguished student, he began to contribute to the student newspaper Estimulen.^{[citation needed]}

Beginnings in politics

Frondizi identified with Yrigoyenismo when he was a teenager and studying in high school. Hipólito Yrigoyen, "the father of the poor", had been elected president when Frondizi was eight years old and served his term when Frondizi was 14. For the first time in Argentine history, a president had been elected by secret and compulsory vote, in massively attended elections. Despite this, and throughout his university career, Frondizi had a negative view of political activity and vowed never to set foot in a local party.^{[citation needed]}

In 1927, he entered the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires, where he graduated in July 1930. He refused to accept his diploma with honors, due to his refusal to receive it from the then de facto president José Félix Uriburu, who had overthrown Yrigoyen on September 6 of the previous year.^{[citation needed]} His opposition to the dictatorship that overthrew Yrigoyen led him to participate in a demonstration on May 8, 1931, during which he was arrested and remanded to the custody of the provisional government.^{[citation needed]}

His brother Silvio Frondizi filed a habeas corpus petition, the first in a life dedicated to defending political prisoners. The judge, however, also ordered the imprisonment of Silvio Frondizi, and both brothers were detained together for twenty days in the National Penitentiary located on Las Heras Street in Buenos Aires, a prison that Arturo would order demolished when he was president

Frondizi said that this arrest convinced him to put aside his plans to teach in order to embark on a career as a politician. At the end of 1932, he was arrested for the second time and after being released he joined the Unión Cívica Radical.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi with his wife Elena and his daughter Elenita.

On October 28, 1932, Frondizi became engaged to Elena Luisa María Faggionato, to marry on January 5, 1933. His wife became his closest collaborator and was co-editor of his speeches.

From this union his only daughter, Elena, would be born in 1937. They built a summer cottage in 1935 at the then-secluded seaside resort town of Pinamar. After the birth in 1937 of their daughter, Elena (their only child), the Frondizis named the cottage Elenita.^[5]

In December 1933, he would be arrested for the third time, suspected of being involved in an uprising against the national government.^{[citation needed]}

He led the Argentine League for the Rights of Man, the nation's first recorded human rights organization, upon its founding in 1936. In December of that year, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while addressing a crowd.^[6]

During the European conflict that would lead to World War II, Frondizi adopted an anti-fascist political stance from 1936, in opposition to the traditional neutralist stance that Argentina had held since World War I. By then, he was already known for his partisan activity, participating in number of ideological organizations. On May 1 of that year, he gave a speech on behalf of the UCR at a massive event of the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), where he shared the platform with the CGT's general secretary, José Domenech; former Radical president Marcelo T. de Alvear; Mario Bravo and Nicolás Repetto of the Socialist Party; Paulino González Alberdi for the Communist Party; and Lisandro de la Torre for the Democratic Progressive Party. Later that year he gave a lecture on the problem of antisemitism, as seen by an Argentinian, at the Enrique Heine Israelite Society.

Deputy and Radical Civic Union (1946-1958)

Photo of the frondizi family in 1938.

Frondizi was part of a generation of young radicals who questioned the conservative leadership of Marcelo de Alvear and the official labor movement, advocating the economic nationalism of Hipólito Yrigoyen and proposing that the UCR adopt a center-left position. Supported and identified with the industrialist and nationalist policies promoted by Amadeo Sabattini as governor of the province of Córdoba, Frondizi and other young reformers such as Moisés Lebensohn, Ricardo Balbín, Arturo Illia, Crisólogo Larralde, and Alejandro Gómez organized a youth congress in Chivilcoy in May 1942, where the foundations were laid for the 'revolution' they attempted to impose on the party.

On April 4, 1945, he was part of the group of radical leaders, formed in opposition to the party's alliance with conservatives in the Democratic Union coalition, who met in the city of Avellaneda to reach agreement on the political foundations for a center-left and nationalist program that could respond to the new social, economic, and political realities that industrialization was producing in Argentina. The result was the 1945 Declaration of Avellaneda, a historic document that became one of the ideological foundations of the UCR.

In 1945, during the confrontation between Peronists and anti-Peronists, Frondizi supported the pro-labor measures promoted by Perón when he was Secretary of Labor, although he criticized the center-right educational policies and the authoritarian nature of the military government. During the events of October 1945, Frondizi was expelled from the Radical Assembly in the Federal Capital, accused of being a "collaborator" with Peronism. Shortly after, on November 1, 1945, these radical leaders met in Rosario to form the Movement of Intransigence and Renewal (MIR).

Frondizi was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in the February 1946 elections. The Democratic Union's electoral defeat by Peronism in the 1946 presidential elections sparked a profound debate within the URC and the resignation of the Unionist leadership. The intransigent movement then assumed leadership of the party, with two of its members, Ricardo Balbín and Arturo Frondizi, elected, respectively, president and vice president of the Radical bloc of national deputies, in the so-called Bloc of 44.^{[citation needed]}

Arturo Frondizi on cover of Qué!, May 1947.

In early 1948, Frondizi was reelected as a deputy, with the MIR winning the internal elections in the Federal Capital. In December, Frondizi embarked on a tour of Latin America, the United States, Europe, and Africa.^{[citation needed]}

His multiple political commitments did not prevent him from dedicating himself to intellectual activity, which is how at the end of 1954 he published Petroleum and Politics, an exposé of the activity of oil companies in Argentina, and spoke of YPF's monopoly of the oil sector. The book would become a best-seller the following year, during heated debates over the oil contracts signed by Perón and Standard Oil of California; thanks to this, Frondizi would position himself in the foreground of the national political scene, reinforcing his fame as an intellectual and his leftist profile.^{[citation needed]}

1951 presidential election and subsequent coup

Frondizi and Ricardo Balbín.

In the 1951 presidential elections, he was nominated by the UCR as its candidate for vice president, with Ricardo Balbín the candidate for president. The ticket obtained 31.81% of the votes, being defeated by the Peronist slate, made up of Perón and Hortensio Quijano, who obtained 62.49%.^{[citation needed]} In 1954, Frondizi was elected president of the National Committee of the UCR.^{[citation needed]}

Arturo Frondizi on the UCR committee.

Later that year anti-Peronist civil and military sectors attempted a coup d'état against the constitutional government, led by General Benjamín Menéndez. Frondizi for the UCR, Américo Ghioldi for the Socialist Party, Democratic Progressive Horacio Thedy, and Reynaldo Pastor for the National Democrats (Conservatives) were informed of the upcoming military action and, according to Menéndez, pledged their support for the coup. The attempt ultimately failed, and some of its leaders were arrested.

On April 15, 1953 a bomb placed by an anti-Peronist civilian commando exploded in the middle of a workers' rally in the Plaza de Mayo, causing seven deaths and hundreds of injuries. In retaliation, at the end of the march, a group of protesters set fire to the Casa Radical and the Jockey Club. A few days later, the main radical leaders were arrested, including Frondizi.

On June 16, 1955, senior leaders of the UCR and the Navy organized a coup attempt to assassinate the president. To this end, they bombed the Plaza de Mayo, resulting in the deaths of more than 300 people. During this period, Frondizi was briefly detained for his connections to the coup plotters, as well as to radicals who were part of terrorist groups known as civil commandos.

On September 19, 1955 the military finally succeeded in deposing Perón. Perón went into exile and the military regime barred any reference to him or his late wife in public.

The division of the UCR

On November 9, 1956, the National Convention of the UCR met in Tucumán. The Intransigence and Renewal Movement of the party led by Frondizi rejected cooperation with the military government; He proposed taking the initiative and putting pressure on him by appointing a presidential slate. The Balbinistas (now separated from the MIR), Unionists and Sabattinistas, closer to the military's Liberating Revolution, rejected the proposal.

The National Convention voted in favor of the intransigent proposal and chose Frondizi as the candidate for President. The Unionists, Balbinistas and Sabattinistas then left the Convention and on February 10, 1957 formed a new party, the Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo, which represented the conservative wing of the UCR.

The intransigents also renamed the party the Unión Cívica Radical Intransigente. The party quickly defined a position inspired by the Declaration of Avellaneda, but adapted to the postwar situation, attracting a large number of youth and progressive sectors outside the party, such as the socialists Dardo Cúneo and Guillermo Estévez Boero and the writer and journalist Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz. These were characterized by a non-anti-Peronist national center-left position, as well as by the developmental thinking supported by Rogelio Frigerio from the magazine Qué!. Furthermore, Frondizi and Frigerio established a close relationship with the newspaper Clarín, to the point that until 1982 the newspaper identified itself with developmentalism and the future MID.^{[citation needed]}

1958 elections

The campaign for the 1958 presidential elections had a high level of activism from the militants, who, in addition to doing their usual task of stickers, began to massively paint the walls of buildings with the names of the presidential slate. Such acts did not take long to arouse criticism from the press. It was the most expensive campaign up to that point in Argentine history. The party ordered the recording of a tango entitled "Frondizi, ¡Primero vos!", With lyrics and music by Daniel Quiroga.

The famous Frondizi-Frigerio duo.

The military dictatorship decided to ban the Peronist Party in the 1958 elections. It also established that only those provinces that had a constitution in force as of December 1, 1957, could participate in it; the provincial constitutions had been abolished by the dictatorship through the military proclamation of 1956. Due to this, citizens of the provinces of La Pampa and Misiones were not allowed to participate in the election.^{[citation needed]}

Three years after Perón fell victim to a military coup in 1955, Arturo Frondizi was elected president. Most historians accept that there was some kind of secret understanding between Perón and Frondizi for the proscribed Peronist vote to turn out in favor of the UCRI candidate. It is presumed that the pact was made through the efforts of Rogelio Frigerio, who made contact with John William Cooke or with Perón himself during his exile in Venezuela, agreeing on the conditions in various meetings held, first in Caracas in January 1958 and then in Ciudad Trujillo (Dominican Republic) in March 1958.^{[citation needed]}

The pact would have consisted of Perón ordering his followers to vote for Frondizi, and if he won the elections, he would have to comply with fourteen points that made up the agreement, including normalizing the unions and the CGT, repealing the decrees prohibiting Peronism and order the return to Perón of the personal property that he had left in the country and the dictatorship had confiscated.^{[citation needed]} Frondizi remained obligated to the strongly anti-Perón military establishment, however, and was forced to annul the election victory of the Peronist candidates in 1960.Brands, Hal (2012). Latin America's Cold War. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-674-06427-0.</ref></ref>

The People's UCR proposed the Balbín-Del Castillo ticket, obtaining 2,416,408 votes, against the Intransigent UCR, which nominated Frondizi-Gómez, who triumphed with 4,049,230 votes. According to historian Félix Luna, the support that ensured Frondizi's success was heterogeneous: Peronists; Catholics and nationalists, sympathetic to the anti-divorce and free education stance defended by the UCRI; and left-wing sectors attracted by their progressive ideas. The 1958 presidential elections had the highest voter turnout in Argentine history and also the highest number of blank votes in a presidential election, reaching 90.86% and 9.26%, respectively. On May 1, General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu handed over power to Arturo Frondizi, the president elected on February 23, 1958.[28][24][48]

The UCRI won in all the provinces where the Frondizi-Gómez ticket was presented, claiming all the governorships, the senate and two thirds of the chamber of deputies, in a victory unequalled until today. On May 1, General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu handed over command to Arturo Frondizi, the president elected on February 23, 1958.^{[citation needed]}

Presidency

Official photo of former President of Argentina, using the presidential sash.

His period of government was characterized by adopting developmentalism as a basic government policy, based on the recommendations of ECLAC and the definitions of the so-called dependency theory, developed from the 1950s by intellectuals from all over Latin America. However, frondizista developmentalism differed from Cepalian by resorting mainly to the establishment of multinational companies, rather than to the State, as a driving force behind industrial development. By 1956, Frondizi began to abandon the position of his book Petroleum and Politics, and thought that oil contracts with foreign industries could constitute a solution to the energy deficit.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi giving the first inauguration speech.

The opening to the world also took place in the cultural field, when certain cultural manifestations that had been buried under Peronism flourished during the Frondizist period. Universities adopted new disciplines such as sociology and psychology.^{[citation needed]}

As president, Frondizi struggled with conservative and military interference over much domestic and international policy. Because of economic problems in the country and a steep rise in consumer prices, the military forced him to impose harsh austerity measures in 1959, which resulted in civil unrest.^{[citation needed]}

Better able to maneuver after the 1959 recession, Frondizi began to see results from his economic policies (known as desarrollismo — "developmentalism"); by 1961, he earned the support of much of the country's large middle class. He tried to lift the electoral ban on Peronism. In addition, he met with Che Guevara and Fidel Castro to aid in mediating their dispute with the United States. This led the military to withdraw their support from his administration, as it opposed leftist populist movements and Communism.^{[citation needed]}

In this period, most Perónists feared being associated with left-wing figures, and sided with the military in their opposition to the left. Military pressure on Frondizi did not relent. He signed the Conintes Plan in 1960, which banned Communism and suspended civil liberties, but he eschewed doing any implementation. Frondizi tried to negotiate an entente between the U.S. and Cuba with a secret meeting in August 1961 at the Quinta de Olivos residence with the Cuban envoy (and fellow Argentine) Che Guevara. The military scuttled any future talks, and Frondizi adopted a neutral stance afterwards.^{[citation needed]}

Economic policy

President Arturo Frondizi with secretary Rogelio Frigerio in La Quinta de Olivos, 1958.

Frondizi sought to strengthen the economy by solving the main economic problems that had haunted Argentina over the last twenty years. These included insufficiency in oil production (60% of the oil had to be imported and 80% of all the oil was used to generate electricity), inadequate steel production, the lack of electricity, and the insufficiency and obsolescence of transport (especially railways). He had inherited economic problems from Perón's 1946-55 administration, characterized by budget deficits because of huge railroad subsidies during this period. These subsidies cost the treasury a million dollars a day. In addition, Perón had used much of the US$1.7 billion in budget reserves at the time of his election to nationalize the various private railway companies by buying them from French and British interests. The nationalized companies were modernized and expanded. Critics say they resulted in too many employees and bloated payrolls that have since strained national budgets.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi assigned economist Rogelio Julio Frigerio to develop a bold plan to make Argentina self-sufficient in motor vehicles and petroleum, as well as to quickly extend the country's semi-developed road and electric networks. (In the 1950s, these served less than half the population, and fewer than 20% in the poorer north). Frondizi's economic vision was a radical departure from the nationalist one of Perón. To achieve greater investment in industrial development, Frigerio supported passage of the Law of Foreign Investment. This provided foreign corporations with incentives similar to those offered to local ones. It created the Department and Commission of Foreign Investments, which was also designed to give foreign investors more legal recourse when operating in the country.^{[citation needed]}

In 1962, Argentina was richer in terms of GDP per capita than Austria, Italy, Japan, and its former colonial master Spain.^[7] Inflation would rise as a result of the investments made in 1958 and 1959 (some of them emerging as regards the energy problem), to such an extent that at the beginning of 1959 it reached 113% per year.^{[citation needed]}

Industrial policy

The Kaiser Carabela automobile produced by Industrias Kaiser Argentina and marketed between 1958 and 1962.

Between 1958 and 1963, the historical maximum of foreign investments in Argentina was reached: around 23% of the total for the period between 1912 and 1975. The industrial branches favored in this second stage of the import substitution process were the automotive, the oil and petrochemical, chemical, metallurgical and electrical and non-electrical machinery. Investments were oriented towards taking advantage of the possibilities offered by a protected domestic market.^{[citation needed]}

The president testing an Argentina built DKW Auto Union 1000.

In 1958, contracts were signed with US oil companies so that they would operate on behalf of YPF. The purpose was to achieve self-sufficiency in hydrocarbons and not have to buy them abroad. In three years of management, an increase of 150% was achieved in the production of oil and natural gas in Argentina. For the first time in history, the country achieved oil self-sufficiency, and Argentina went from being an importer to being an oil exporter.^{[citation needed]}

Petroleum

Frondizi's development of Argentina's sizable petroleum reserves was used to foster nationalism among voters as well as strengthen the economy. When Frondizi came into office in 1958, oil production had not grown significantly since the sometimes abusive Standard Oil was forced out in the 1930s. As Argentina relied more on motor vehicles, oil imports drained the country in foreign exchange. How to achieve increased oil production was a contentious issue by the 1940s. The UCR (Radical Civic Union) favoured a state monopoly, believing it necessary to control the oil reserves. In the Declaration of Avellaneda (a common platform supported by Balbin's UCRP—his wing of the UCR—and Frondizi's UCRI), the state's need to invest in oil exploration and to make Argentina self-sufficient in the short term was expressed as policy.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi encouraged foreign investment in the sectors that had created chronic trade deficits between 1949 and 1962. 90% of all foreign investment during his term went into oil exploration, oil refineries, the auto industry, steel, and household durables. Ten of the 25 largest projects were for exploration of new oil fields. The record public investment in the petrochemical sector led to a fivefold increase in synthetic rubber production; by 1962, the production of crude oil tripled to 16 million cubic meters. Achieving self-sufficiency in oil freed hundreds of millions of dollars in annual import costs for Argentina. It helped create 13 years of nearly uninterrupted economic growth, particularly in industry.^[8]

Highrises in Mar del Plata dating from the Frondizi era, when modern architecture came into vogue locally.

Thirty-six oil drilling rigs had been purchased for the extraction of oil, the largest purchase made in the history of Argentina. In 1960, more than one hundred of these teams were working for the Administration, twice as many as YPF normally had, thus solving the energy crisis that existed around 1958, and ending the "electric diet" and the blackouts that occurred. the country suffered constantly.^{[citation needed]}

Labor policy

From 1957, elections were held in the unions, most of them winning Peronism. The unions had been grouped into three groups: the 62 Organizations (Peronists), the 32 Democratic Guilds (socialists and radicals) and the MUCS (communists).^{[citation needed]}

In 1958, through law 14 499, it was established that each retiree would automatically receive an equivalent of 82% of what they received when they worked.^{[citation needed]}

In October 1960, independent Peronist unions formed the Commission of 20 to demand the return of the General Labor Confederation (CGT), which had been intervened by the government since the military coup in 1955. To pressure the government, the Commission of the 20 declared a general strike on November 7, which forced President Frondizi to receive them and finally agree on March 3, 1961, to return the CGT to the Commission of the 20.^{[citation needed]}

Educational policy

Worker-student mobilization. Buenos Aires 1959.

Following the university reform of 1918, Argentine education, especially at university level, became more independent of the government, as well as the influential Catholic Church.^{[citation needed]} The church began to re-emerge in country's secular educational system during Perón's rule, when catechism was reintroduced in public schools, and parochial institutions began receiving subsidies. A sudden reversal in the policy in 1954 helped lead to Perón's violent overthrow, however, after which his earlier, pro-clerical policies were reinstated by Aramburu.^[9]

Frondizi initially opposed Aramburu's Law 6403 of 1955, which advanced private education generally, and parochial, or more often, Catholic-run schools (those staffed with lay teachers), in particular. Confident the new policy would be upheld, church supporters founded the Argentine Catholic University.^{[citation needed]} The UCRI campaigned against the policy, though when Frondizi took office, he shifted in favor of further, pro-clerical reforms, which he then referred to as "free education." Opposed by many in his own party, and especially by the President of the University of Buenos Aires (his brother, Risieri), Frondizi was open about his motivation for the policy change, declaring that "I need the support of the church."^[9]

The Educational Freedom Law, signed in early 1959, also freed private universities from limits imposed by the 1885 Avellaneda Law, under which they could not issue official degrees directly, only through a public university. The law led to controversy because most of the new universities and private schools, which would become eligible for state subsidies, were religious. Supporters applauded Frondizi's vision of private universities that could co-exist with public ones, and it was seen as a progressive measure.^{[citation needed]} Those in favour of a strictly secular educational system believed the law to be a concession given to the Church in exchange for support, however, and became disillusioned with the pragmatic Frondizi.^[9]

Frondizi observes the student protests from the balcony of the pink house, with their slogans "Lay or free."

Frondizi, however, advanced other educational reforms to dovetail with his economic policy. His administration incorporated the National Workers' University network of campuses (technical schools inaugurated by Perón in 1948) into the national university aegis, by which he established the UTN system in 1959, and opened numerous new campuses. The UTN became the leading alma mater for Argentine engineers in subsequent decades.^[6]

International policy

The Frondizis in 1960.

Arturo Frondizi maintained a policy of good relations with foreign countries.^{[citation needed]}

The Frondizi presidency began in times of the Cold War and politics exterior embodied by the president sought to be at the service of a national strategy of economic development and integration. They were the beginnings of decolonization, sought to avoid conflicts even though they existed at a lower rank, within the blocks.^{[citation needed]}

The Frondizi government imagined the postwar world in competition economic and peaceful coexistence, factors that replaced the bloc strategy and containment. Against a majority political opinion, he dismissed a new world conflagration. Argentina's foreign policy should then serve a national development and integration strategy. The perimidated economic link with the United Kingdom and the need to finance development led to the foreign policy will veer towards relocation within the continent.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi becomes in more than one country the first Argentine president to set foot on these lands. He maintained strong relations with his Latin American peers, with the United States, European countries and also Asian countries.^{[citation needed]}

Latin America

While Arturo Frondizi formed his cabinet, he planned a tour of countries in Latin America, with the purpose of promoting bilateral relations. Between April 7–17, 1958, frondizi toured the cities of Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santiago and Lima.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi with the Uruguayan president, Eduardo Víctor Haedo.

Arturo Frondizi during a visit to Chile in 1961 is received by President Jorge Alessandri.

Beagle conflict

After the Snipe islet incident in the Beagle Channel, the governments of Argentina and Chile tried to make approaches to solve their border problems. On February 2, 1959, President Arturo Frondizi landed at Los Cerrillos Airport and signed, together with his Chilean counterpart Jorge Alessandri, the Joint Declaration on Arbitration in which both leaders agreed to "immediately enter into negotiations aimed at finding the right formulas appropriate arbitrations, which allow the resolution of existing disputes ". The two presidents had agreed to submit to arbitration by the British government (or in its absence the president of the Swiss Confederation), the border dispute in the area of the Encuentro river and the valleys of Palena and California, while the Beagle dispute would be submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.^{[citation needed]}

A series of diplomatic protocols were signed with Chile in 1960, one of the protocols submitted the Paleina issue to arbitration, another was the Beagle Protocol, in addition to two Agreements: one for navigation through the southern channels and another for permanent arbitration.

Janio Quadros and Arturo Frondizi.

Presidents Frondizi and Alessandri met in Santiago de Chile, where they made a Declaration on the "agreement that contains all the bases for the peaceful solution of pending boundary issues within the two countries" except Antarctica. It was in this agreement that the dispute in the Beagle Channel was intended to be submitted to the decision of the Inter-American Court of Justice in The Hague. On June 12, 1960, they met in Buenos Aires the ambassadors of both countries to sign what became known as the Beagle Protocol and the Navigation Protocol, which allowed, among other things, the passage of Argentine warships through the channel and the Strait of Magellan, in addition, the treaty established limits precise, as for example, a border line that would run along the middle line of the canal leaving the canal divided for both countries. But the treaty like the Navigation Agreement were rejected by the congresses of both nations.

Arturo Frondizi with Adolfo López Mateos.

Throughout his entire government, Frondizi had meetings with Latin American figures such as Juscelino Kubitschek, Jânio Quadros, Jorge Alessandri, Manuel Prado Ugarteche, Adolfo López Mateos, Víctor Paz Estenssoro, among others.^{[citation needed]}

Europe

Frondizi with the queen of the Netherlands.

Throughout the year 1960, President Frondizi carried out a European tour in which he visited Italy, The Vatican, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Great Britain and Spain.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi arrived in Rome where he was received by the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Gronchi. The Argentine president included a short stay in the city of his ancestors: Gubbio. Frondizi visited the pontiff John XXIII in a private audience that, later, was shared by other members of the Argentine delegation. The Pope stated that the Argentina, born Catholic, sought to bring to the world a message of peace in which the values of the spirit will illuminate understanding among men.^{[citation needed]}

Arturo Frondizi with John XXIII.

Frondizi visited Bern. Although the Swiss country did not maintain an intense movement trade with Argentina, however it was an opportunity to do business with Swiss industrialists. The Argentine president was received by Max Petitpierre, president of the Confederación, who hailed him as "the rebuilder of the economic stability of Argentina, the new liberal line that you adopted for the new Argentine economy has won the sympathy and trust of our authorities and those who support commercial relations with your country ".^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi arrived in France with knowledge of the discrepancy between the two countries in the United Nations Assembly, on Algeria. In the first interview between Frondizi and de Gaulle, he received him with his hand raised and a question: "How has your country voted in the United Nations against France?" Frondizi will responded: "my country cannot stop showing solidarity with the peoples who fight for theirself-determination ", and added" we learned it from the influence of the French Revolution ".^{[citation needed]}

Charles de Gaulle with Arturo Frondizi.

The Argentine president arrived in Brussels, where he received a "warm reception"; in the speeches the reference to José de San Martín was present, for his residence during some of his years of exile. It was the first time that a president Argentinean visited this country which ranked third in European exports to the Argentina. The Argentine president visited the port of Antwerp and took the opportunity to make contact with businessmen and authorities of the Chamber of Commerce of that city. Jacques van Offelen, Minister of Foreign Trade, was present at the press meeting given by the Argentine president.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi in Bonn and Bad Godesberg, Bethovenian cities, exalted the German contributions to universal culture. He also visited Cologne, where he met with businessmen, and Essen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia located in the heart of the industrial region of the Rhur basin, center of the German steel industry. The Argentine president was received by Adenauer, who was accompanied by his finance minister Ludwig Erhard. At the meal offered by Chancellor Adenauer to Frondizi, he called him "a friend of our country "and praised the skill with which he kept the helm:" we continue with interest in the development of Latin America ".^{[citation needed]}

The Argentine president arrived in Amsterdam, where he was received by members of the royal family: Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. The Dutch press had greeted to the president who came with favorable headlines. Queen Juliana entertained Frondizi with a meal in which she recalled the cordiality with which Prince Bernhard had been received, on the occasion of attending the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Argentine independence. He stressed: "isolation is no longer of our era."^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi arrived in the United Kingdom, in a trip that aroused great expectations, Upon his arrival he was received by the Prime Minister English Harold Macmillan; complied with the protocol for visiting Queen Elizabeth II, the imposition of the decorations and, immediately afterwards, a meeting awaited him press at the Argentine embassy. In the two interviews with Mac Millan, the Argentine president expressed his hope that Britain would use its influence to channel investment into Argentina. The Argentine president raised the possibility that Argentina could be part of

Arturo Frondizi in Kyoto, Japan.

the OECE or, at least, have an observer, since in it Latin America it must have his voice.^{[citation needed]}

Spain could not be absent from the European tour of the Argentine president, who was hailed as "professor of humanism." He was received by General Francisco Franco, remembering the community of language, religion and culture that united both peoples. In the official interview, Frondizi was awarded the Order of Isabel la Catholica and, in turn, imposed on the head of the Spanish government that of the Liberator General San Martin. The two leaders held an interview behind closed doors.^{[citation needed]}

United States and Cuba

Frondizi and Eisenhower in Ezeiza.

Arturo Frondizi was the first Argentine president to make an official visit to the United States. He was there from January 19 to February 1, 1959. Frondizi met with Eisenhower on January 22 at the White House. The Argentine President would once again highlight the achievements of having been in office for a year, and reiterated that Argentina would need credits for hydroelectric power and producing steel. Then he mentioned the Peruvian-Ecuadorian border conflict, everyone present agreed that the solution to the conflict would be of great importance for the entire continent. Eisenhower then told Frondizi that members of his administration were watching the progress made in Argentina, and they admired the president's courage and leadership. During a speech before the OAS Frondizi denounced the deterioration of the terms of trade in the region and supported the Pan-American Operation of President Juscelino Kubitschek, whose goal was the development and formation of capital in Latin America.^{[citation needed]}

The president Eisenhower visited Argentina in February 1960. Both leaders issued the "Declaration of Bariloche" (a treaty on the protection of national parks), with the intention of promoting a better standard of living for the American countries.

in Bariloche.

Presidents Arturo Frondizi and John F. Kennedy came to have a good personal relationship and even mutual consultation on international issues. Although both had similar positions politically and economically, they defined certain aspects of security in the hemisphere. On the one hand, Kennedy encouraged the Alliance for Progress to counter Cuban influence in order to help underdeveloped countries and favored democratic change in Latin America. However, his administration endorsed a security policy with characteristics opposed to the foreign policy of the Frondizi government, and precisely in February 1962 he delivered a message to the country in which he defended the principle of non-intervention and the right of self-determination of the peoples. ^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi and JFK.

Kennedy wanted Argentina to be the mediator between the United States and Cuba in the conflict of the "missile crisis", since these two countries were experiencing a very serious confrontation motivated by the fear of the United States that Cuba could have weapons at its disposal nuclear weapons coming from the Soviet Union pointing towards its territory. Hence, at the request of the US president, a meeting between Frondizi and Ernesto Guevara was encouraged to discuss the thorny issue in addition to trying to direct relations between the two countries after the Americans failed to invade the island. from Cuba.^{[citation needed]}

Thus Frondizi tried to approach as a mediator between both sides in a neutral way, but, due to military pressure, on February 8, 1962, he would be forced to break relations with La Havana.

Frondizi and Kennedy.

Four months after the revolution in 1959, Cuba was still part of the Organization of American States (OAS), the island had not yet declared itself a socialist, and the figure of Fidel Castro was even sympathetic to some sectors that would later revile him. On May 1, he arrived at the Ezeiza Airport, and Hermes Quijada was the first to welcome him on behalf of President Arturo Frondizi. He immediately arrived in Buenos Aires, and the following day he gave a famous ninety-minute speech before the Commission of the 21 of the OAS in the building of the Secretariat of Industry, in his speech praised the American democracy, which had welcomed Latin American immigrants with decorum. A group of protesters received the leader of the Cuban revolution. The visit was not welcomed by the Argentine military. During the OAS Conference, meeting in Punta del Este in January 1961, Argentine Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Cárcano opposed the exclusion of Cuba from the inter-American system. After the conference, Frondizi received Ernesto Guevara, Argentine representative from Cuba, at the Olivos residence.

Frondizi and Fidel Castro.

^{[citation needed]}

Of the four possible mediators, Arturo Frondizi argued in favor of Argentina, due to its balance in foreign policy (Brazil and Mexico were closer to third-partyism) and due to the lack of a deep internal contradiction (Chile had a conservative government with opposition communist). In the first polls, both John Kennedy and the Cubans were willing to accept that basis for the talks: Frondizi came very close to achieving a great diplomatic solution, but did not take into account the inconveniences he would encounter on his home front. Preliminary talks were held at the Cuban Embassy in Buenos Aires. Someone who did not belong to the diplomatic service, but who was linked to the Frondizi team, contacted Ernesto Guevara at that time (1961) and let the Argentine president know that the Cuban minister accepted his mediation to try to find a negotiated solution. At the same time, some Argentines such as Horacio Rodriguez Larreta (father) met with Guevara in Punta del Este and participated in the famous meeting he held with Richard Goodwin, an advisor to President Kennedy. After that conference, Guevara let Frondizi know that he was interested in talking with him. ^{[citation needed]}

Che reading La Nación.

At that time, Guevara agreed to reach an understanding with the United States to coexist peacefully. When Guevara told Frondizi that he wanted to speak with him and that he was willing to travel to Argentina, he also added that if the news of his visit to Argentina was publicly known, his life was at great risk, and that it would most likely be murdered. Frondizi replied schematically: first, that he was preparing to receive him and considered the interview convenient; second, that if he was determined to travel, he should go to Montevideo Airport (Guevara was in Punta del Este): from that moment on, he would be under the responsibility of the Argentine government. Guevara accepted and Frondizi sent a civilian plane from Buenos Aires to the Uruguayan capital.^{[citation needed]}

The meeting between President Arturo Frondizi and Ernesto Guevara caused Adolfo Mugica to resign twenty days later from his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship on August 29, 1961. Frondizi's attitude towards the Cuban Revolution of 1959, along with the visit of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara ended up weakening the government's relationship with the military power, even more than it already was. The army formally protested these meetings with Cuban leaders, and pressured the president to change his policy with respect to Cuba. Cuban exiles in Buenos Aires tried to forge documents with the intention of implicating members of the Government in an alleged Castro plot. Frondizi ordered an investigation, and even the army's own report, the famous case of the "Cuban letters," was nothing more than a lie. Frondizi gave a speech on the national network to try to provide explanations.^{[citation needed]}

Asia

Gift from Premier Sukarno to President Arturo Frondizi.

During a tour of India, Thailand, and Japan, President Frondizi met Rajendra Prasad, King Rama IX and Emperor Hirohito. The objective was to seek new markets, in response to Argentina's imperative need to trade and obtain investments, a key to the program development and trade cooperation.^{[citation needed]}

One of the objectives sought with these meetings was to reinforce Argentina's non-aligned international position in the face of the Cold War.^{[citation needed]}

Israel: kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann

At the end of 1952, the fugitive Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann had been located in Argentina thanks to information provided by a friend of the Austrian Nazi hunter of Jewish origin Simon Wiesenthal. Given the difficulty that Israel could obtain the extradition of Eichmann by Argentina (with the consequent danger that the criminal would flee), the Israeli secret services of Mosad designed the kidnapping of the wanted Nazi criminal with the firm support of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, thus violating consular assistance treaties and Argentine national sovereignty.^{[citation needed]}

Finally, on May 11, 1960, Eichmann was kidnapped in the middle of the street, getting him into a private car when he was getting off the bus to return home from work. Later, the four men of the Israeli Secret Service transferred him on May 20 from Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires to Israel in a private plane, with another identity and pretending that he was drunk.^{[citation needed]}

Faced with this kidnapping, the Foreign Ministry, through Ambassador Mario Amadeo, complained to the United Nations Security Council for the serious violation of sovereignty. It received support from the international body, but Israel never intended to return the Nazi criminal to Argentina. Diplomats from the United States, Great Britain and France tried to formalize a meeting between President Arturo Frondizi and David Ben Gurion so that both would seek a solution to the Eichmann case, and that diplomatic relations between Argentina and Israel would not be broken as a result. After several contacts, it was agreed that the meeting between the two leaders would be held in Brussels in June 1960, finally frustrating such meeting due to misgivings between the diplomacy of both countries.^{[citation needed]}

Ultimately, Frondizi severed diplomatic relations with Israel, relations that had recently been established by President Juan Perón. A short time later, Frondizi re-established ties with Israel.^{[citation needed]}

On December 11, 1961, Adolf Eichmann was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death on December 15, carried out on May 31, 1962. His last words were: "Long live Germany. Long live Austria. Long live Argentina. These are the countries that I identify with the most and I will never forget them. I had to obey the rules of war and those of my flag. I'm ready ".^{[citation needed]}

Antarctic Treaty

On a trip to Antarctica, March 1961.

The Antarctic Conference was inaugurated in Washington, D.C., United States on October 15, 1959, in an atmosphere of uncertainty, attended by representatives of twelve states, of which seven claimed their sovereignty over some fraction of the Antarctic continent, among which were : Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Norway, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The territorial rights claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom overlapped considerably. Meanwhile, five other countries (Belgium, the United States, Japan, South Africa and the Soviet Union) had carried out explorations in the region without having presented territorial claims. There were aspects of the future regulation for Antarctica that had the general consensus of the nations, such as the pacification of the continent and excluding all activities of a warlike nature, as well as guaranteed access for scientific research for any country that desired to do so. The most complex problem was the consideration of sovereignty claims.^{[citation needed]}

On Deception Island, President Arturo Frondizi gives a speech that is broadcast by radio.

Argentina's position was to establish the peaceful use of Antarctica and scientific cooperation within agreed limits, and that the Conference not modify the rights of the parties in the least. Regarding the use of the territory, the Argentine Government maintained the need to put limits on absolute freedom, in order to preserve ecological interests, and to prohibit nuclear tests and the deposit of radioactive waste. The last proposal took the US delegation as well as the Soviet one by surprise, and the Argentine insistence on it came close to causing a crisis in the meeting, not only internationally, but also within the government of Arturo Frondizi.^{[citation needed]}

The treaty was finally signed on December 1, 1959, and was maintained in accordance with the demands of Argentina that activities of a military nature had to be outlawed. The Antarctic Treaty entered into force on June 23, 1961. The pact had some success since the area remained free of conflict. The council also succeeded in internationalizing and demilitarizing the Antarctic continent, where nuclear testing and storing radioactive waste were banned. During the Cold War these activities were carried out with great intensity by the belligerent powers. It was ensured that the region is used for peaceful purposes, including mainly joint exploration and scientific research. The signatory countries obtained free access to the entire region with reciprocal rights to inspect their facilities.^{[citation needed]}

In his speech on May 1, 1960, Frondizi dedicated a paragraph to the Conference on Antarctica, stating that Argentina had been able to include in the treaty its opposition to the internationalization of the area. The principles of freedom and scientific cooperation had also been included in the treaty.^{[citation needed]}

After signing the treaty, Frondizi visited Antarctica. On March 6, 1961, he embarked, along with his entourage, in the Aguirre Bay to go to the Decepción base (Decepción Island). The outward journey was somewhat uncomfortable, as they had to endure severe storms at the crossing of Drake Pass. On March 8 in the afternoon, they anchored in Bahía 1º de Mayo, and then with the icebreaker General San Martín the first tributes were paid to the authorities who disembarked, being transferred by helicopters and boats to the detachment where the honors were repeated. The military vicar Donamin held a mass, and from there Frondizi gave a speech to the country and greeted the members of the National Navy, researchers, scientists and technicians.^{[citation needed]}

Overthrow

President Arturo Frondizi is taken prisoner.

Around 4:00 in the morning, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Poggi sent a radiogram to all the military units communicating: The President of the Republic has been deposed by the Armed Forces. This decision is immovable.^{[citation needed]}

At 7:45 a.m. on March 29, 1962, Frondizi left the Olivos residence by car accompanied by his usual personal custody and by Captain Eduardo Lockhart, Head of the Military House, heading to the distant Metropolitan Airport a few minutes from trip, where he boarded a Navy plane that took him to Martín García Island where he was detained. Lockhart had personally drawn up the instructions to be delivered to the head of the base - who had already been notified by telegraph of the trip - so that he would receive treatment according to his status as former president.^{[citation needed]}

After ordering the overthrow of Frondizi at 4:30 in the morning, the coup plotters remained without defining who would take over the government. Just at 11:00 am, "with the presidential office vacant for almost eight hours," the three commanders held the first of many other meetings to evaluate the alternatives.^{[citation needed]}

But Frondizi, aware that he did not have much time left in government, idealized a plan.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi's plan

Since the previous day, a group of civilians and soldiers had been moving against the clock and in the midst of great difficulties, to carry out Frondizi's latest plan, destined to save what could be legally, making Guido swear before the Supreme Court, under of the law of acephalia.^{[citation needed]}

The difficulties to carry out Frondizi's plan were many. Guido had no direct contact with Frondizi and his loyalty to the President prevented him from making any decision that Frondizi had not ordered. Martínez, for his part, did not belong to the UCRI, he had assumed as Minister two days ago on the recommendation of Aramburu and did not even know Guido personally.^{[citation needed]}

For that, Guido himself, the members of the Supreme Court, the coup commanders and the leaders of the UCRI had to be convinced. Potash says that four men played the most important roles in this operation: Defense Minister Rodolfo Martínez, Supreme Court President Julio Oyhanarte, Air Force Commander-in-Chief and one of the coup leaders Brigadier Cayo Alsina, and himself Arturo Frondizi.^{[citation needed]}

Guido's oath before the Supreme Court

At 3:55 p.m., when the formalities for Guido's oath before the Supreme Court were still being completed, the three coup leaders settled in the Casa Rosada. Aware of the fact and with Guido on his way to court, Martínez went to the Casa Rosada to buy time and prevent the military from formally taking over the government, especially Poggi, who showed a clear intention to assume as president. Shortly after five o'clock in the afternoon, Guido appeared at the Supreme Court to take the oath, visibly shaken. The oath was carried out in the utmost reserve, with the sole presence of the judges of the Court, Guido, and his private secretary. Minister Martínez had asked General Aramburu to join the small group, but Aramburu did not accept.^{[citation needed]}

Tradition indicated that the oath was taken on the Bible, but due to the urgency and the lack of a Bible in the offices of the Court, the decision was made to take the oath on the text of the Constitution. Immediately afterwards Guido burst into tears and embraced Oyhanarte, asking that he not be considered a "traitor to his party or the people." Villegas Basavilbaso for his part said - expressing his objections -: "We can say, like Cicero, that we have saved the Republic by violating the law." It was Colombres who replied: "Cicero is wrong, because whoever saves the Republic can never be breaking a law."^{[citation needed]}

Later life

Frondizi in 1980.

Frondizi was held in detention until July 1963. After his release and the return of Frigerio from exile, they founded the Integration and Development Movement (MID) on a developmentalist platform. Unable to field candidates in the 1963 elections due to military and conservative opposition, the MID and Perón agreed on a "National Popular Front." The alliance was scuttled by military pressure, and the MID endorsed a "blank vote" option. Those among Frondizi's former allies who objected to this move backed the progressive former Buenos Aires Province Governor, Oscar Alende, an erstwhile Frondizi ally who ran on the UCRI ticket (its last) and finished second.^{[citation needed]}

Following the pragmatic Arturo Illia's election, the MID was allowed to participate in the 1965 legislative elections, sending 16 members to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. Policy differences over Frondizi-era oil contracts, which Illia rescinded, led the MID to oppose him actively. Frondizi initially welcomed the 1966 coup against Illia. Frigerio became a significant shareholder in Argentina's largest news daily, Clarín, following a 1971 deal made with the news daily's owner, Ernestina Herrera de Noble. Her late husband and Clarín founder Roberto Noble had supported Frondizi.

Frondizi with his advisor Rogelio Frigerio, during a meeting of their political party, the MID, in October 1984.

With Perón's return from exile imminent, Frondizi chose to endorse the aging leader's ticket for the 1973 elections. Following seven years of military rule, the reopened Argentine Congress included 12 MID Deputies. Frondizi was given little say in the new Perónist government, and its policy shifted from populism to erratic crisis management measures. The return of peronism exacerbated political tensions in Argentina, and there was an outbreak of violence between factions. In 1973, members of Perón's government organized the Triple A, a right-wing death squad. Among its estimated 600 murder victims was Frondizi's brother, Law Professor Silvio Frondizi, who had served as chief counsel to the Trotskyist ERP. He was killed in 1974.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi initially supported the 1976 coup against Perón's successor (his inexperienced widow Isabel Perón). He dropped his early support for the regime because it appointed an ultra-conservative Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz. Numerous MID figures received death threats.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi with Peron.

The dictatorship conducted the Dirty War against the political opposition, killing and injuring tens of thousands of political opponents and distantly related suspects in terrorist disappearances, kidnappings and tortures. In 1982 it was defeated in the Falklands War, which further damaged its popular support. Finally the junta allowed return to democracy with elections in 1983. The dictatorship left an insolvent Argentina; business, political and consumer confidence almost shattered; and international prestige damaged because of its years of state terrorism against its population.^{[citation needed]}

Suffering from the early stages of Parkinson's disease, Frondizi named his friend, Frigerio, the MID nominee for president. Refusing to condemn the regime's human rights atrocities, the MID fared poorly on election night. It garnered 4th place (1.5%) and elected no congressmen.^{[citation needed]} Elected by an ample margin, UCR leader Raúl Alfonsín excluded Frondizi from the economic policy discussions he held before taking office. In 1986 Frigerio succeeded the ailing Frondizi as President of the MID, though the former president remained influential in the party. The MID maintained a considerable following in a number of the less developed Argentine provinces, where voters had fond memories of the Frondizi administration's development projects. It helped elect allies within the Justicialist Party (Peronists), in Formosa and Misiones Provinces, as well as Mayoral candidate Néstor Kirchner in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz Province; Kirchner was elected as governor and, in 2003, President of Argentina.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi supported Peronist candidate Carlos Menem in the May 1989 elections. His support soured when Menem turned to neo-liberal and free trade policies.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life and death

Frondizi lost his daughter in 1976, and his wife in 1991. Living in seclusion in his Beruti Street apartment (in Buenos Aires' northside), Frondizi occasionally received political figures seeking advice.^{[citation needed]}

On April 18, 1995, Arturo Frondizi died at the age of 86 at the Italian Hospital in the city of Buenos Aires for unknown causes.^{[citation needed]} His death went so unnoticed that to this day it is very difficult to find out the exact cause of it. In 2019 his remains, which rested in the Recoleta Cemetery, were transferred to the Concepción del Uruguay.^{[citation needed]}

Three years after his death, in 1998, the Konex Foundation awarded the memory of the former president with the decoration of honor.^{[citation needed]}

Theft of the presidential sash and stick

On April 3, 2008, almost one hundred years after his birth, and the Casa Rosada museum was being remodeled since January of that year, an employee noticed that the cane and the presidential sash that Frondizi had donated seventeen years earlier to the museum were missing. . No explanations were found for this fact, since there were four security cameras around the museum sector, and to enter it you had to leave a fingerprint, but, apparently, no progress was made in the investigation of this case.^{[citation needed]}

Tribute and legacy

Frondizi bust in the busts room of the Casa Rosada.

Arturo Frondizi is recognized not only as a lucid and effective politician, but as a statesman, that is, a politician capable of looking beyond the routines of the situation, a consideration that surely includes more or less critical nuances, but with its lights and shadows even his most bitter opponents ponder him. In 1958 Frondizi set out to think the nation in tune with the theoretical and political categories that he considered more modern. Sixty years later Frondizi won its place in history and developmentalism continues to be one of the most interesting and suggestive proposals when it comes to thinking about the national destiny.^[10]

Dr. Arturo Frondizi was the democratic president of the Argentines between 1958 and 1962. His prestige, based on personal and political values, has grown over time. He was an intellectual "borrowed" from politics and a builder of examples, prosperity and wealth for his country and his people. He lived with austerity and died surrounded by the affection and recognition of a grateful society. Increasingly, Argentine democracy and Argentines exalt his figure and serve as a role model of the politician with ethical, civic conduct and as a public servant.^{[citation needed]}

On Friday, October 28, 1999, a plaque with the name of the former Argentine president was discovered in a square in the city of Gubbio, in the Italian region of Umbria where Frondizi's parents were born, on the occasion of the anniversary of his birth. The mayor of the city, Ubaldo Corazzi and the president of the local Rotary Club, Gaetano Nardelli, represented the Italian officials. On behalf of Argentina, the ambassador to Italy, Félix Borgonovo; the Minister of Education, Manuel García Solá; the head of the Arturo Frondizi Foundation, Dr. Cañete and the former minister and official of the Frondizi government, Antonio Salonia. This is how this square in Gubbio was named «Piazza Arturo Frondizi».^{[citation needed]}

Arturo Frondizi hat and glasses.

Argentine politicians such as Cristina and Néstor Kirchner, Roberto Lavagna, Ricardo López Murphy and Eduardo Duhalde (among others), claimed to be admirers of Arturo Frondizi's management, regardless of their ideology or political party. Many of them considered him one of the best leaders, and also, as the last president with a country project.^{[citation needed]}

Ten years after his death, a tribute was paid at the central headquarters of Banco Nación, on Rivadavia Avenue, in front of the Casa Rosada, where more than one hundred and fifty friends and great followers of him gathered. Frondizi was a great defender of democracy. Through his permanent developmentist affirmation, he opened a path that Argentines must necessarily travel, said Raúl Alfonsín, who praised Frondizi in this way despite the fact that they had both belonged to different lines of radicalism, which were very much at odds at that time. The tribute lasted all that day.^{[citation needed]}

Plaque in honor of Arturo Frondizi, La Plata.

On March 6, 2008, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires renamed the 9 de Julio Sur Highway with the new name of Autopista Presidente Arturo Frondizi in homage to the former Argentine president.

By municipal ordinance 5465 of October 7, 2008, the name of "President Arturo Frondizi" was imposed on the Junín Industrial Park in homage to the contribution that the ex-president made to the national industry. The corresponding act was carried out on November 7, 2009.^{[citation needed]}

On June 22, 2008, the official courier presented a stamp with the slogan "Arturo Frondizi - 100 years after his birth - 50 years since he became president of the Nation" in the Blue Room of the Palace of the National Congress. On the stamp you can see the face of the former president, and next to it, some oil extraction pumps, all with a light sky blue background.^{[citation needed]}

On October 28, 2008, a statue in homage to the former president was erected in a square that bears his name in Paso de los Libres.^{[citation needed]}

On April 3, 2009, the Argentine Government ordered the issuance of a coin with the image of Arturo Frondizi, in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of his birth and the fiftieth anniversary of his assumption as president of the Argentine Nation. The measure was made official on March 4, 2009, in Law 26,479, published in the Official Gazette. The regulation bears the signature of Vice President Julio Cobos, that of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Fellner and that of Parliamentary Secretary Enrique Hidalgo.^{[citation needed]}

On September 29, 2010, the councilors unanimously approved the draft ordinance to name "President Arturo Frondizi" to the La Carlota industrial park. The councilors participated in the Honorable Deliberative Council on September 29. The Justicialista Party supported the project, as did the UCEDE. Radicalism was not present, although Vice President Roberto Gadea stated that: «the important thing is the Industrial Park, therefore, the name is fine; so we also support this agreement.^{[citation needed]}

Frondizi also received an extensive list of decorations and recognitions both nationally and internationally.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

Coat of arms of Arturo Frondizi as Knight Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain).

Decorations

Award or decoration		Country	Date
	Grand Collar of the Order of the Condor of the Andes[citation needed]	Bolivia	8 July 1961
	Collar of the Order of Merit[citation needed]	Chile	1 July 1958
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour [citation needed]	France	8 May 1960
	Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[citation needed]	Germany	June 1960
	Knight Grand Cross with collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic[citation needed]	Italy	11 June 1960
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Chrysanthemum[citation needed]	Japan	14 December 1961
	Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle [citation needed]	Mexico	21 January 1960
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion[citation needed]	Netherlands	1 July 1960
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru [citation needed]	Peru	17 April 1958
	Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic[citation needed]	Spain	7 July 1960
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Chula Chom Klao[11]	Thailand	8 December 1961
	Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George [citation needed]	United Kingdom	4 July 1960
	Collar of the Order of Pope Pius IX[citation needed]	Vatican	June 1960

Honorary doctorates

•  Canada: University of Ottawa, 1961^{[citation needed]}
•  Peru: University of San Marcos, 1958^{[citation needed]}
• Hawaii: University of Hawái, 1961^{[citation needed]}
•  Italy: University of Perugia, 1960^{[citation needed]}
•  Japan: Waseda University, 1961^{[citation needed]}
•  Spain: University of Madrid, 1960^{[citation needed]}
•  Thailand: Thammasat University, 1961^{[citation needed]}
•  United States: Fordham University, 1959^{[citation needed]}

Awards and distinction

Several allegorical City keys that President Arturo Frondizi received in various visits to the interior of the country.

•  Argentina: Konex of honour, 1998^{[citation needed]}
•  Japan: Key to the city of tokyo, 1960^{[citation needed]}
•  Spain: Key to the city of madrid, 1960^{[citation needed]}
•  Uruguay: Uruguayan Parliamentary Distinction, 1958^{[citation needed]}

Notes

1. ^ The economic plan was known as Developmentalism. Basically, it consisted in achieving industrialization through foreign investment. This idea came originally from Raul Prebisch from the CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America) and was modified by Rogelio Frigerio, the right hand of Frondizi.
2. ^ The government created both departments under the orbit of the "Secretary of socio-economic relations" (controlled by Frigerio) on the 21 of July 1958
3. ^ 320 million of a total of 1310 million of the imports went into oil: Celia Szusterman, Frondizi: La política del desconcierto, emecé, Buenos Aires, 1998

Bibliography

• Potash, Robert A. The Army & Politics in Argentina: 1945-1962; Peron to Frondizi (Stanford University Press, 1969).
• Szusterman, Celia. Frondizi and the Politics of Developmentalism in Argentina, 1955—62 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1993),

• Belenky, Silvia. Frondizi y su tiempo. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de Latinoamerica, 1984.
• Díaz, Fanor. Conversaciones con Rogelio Frigerio. Buenos Aires: Editorial Hachette, 1977.
• Frigerio, Rogelio. Los cuatro años (1958–1962). Buenos Aires: Editorial Concordia, 1962.
• Frigerio, Rogelio. Diez años de la crisis argentina. Buenos Aires: Editorial Planeta, 1983.
• Frondizi, Arturo. Qué es el Movimiento de Integración y Desarollo. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1983.

Notes

1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Frondizi and the second or maternal family name is Ércoli.