Arturo Frondizi
Encyclopedia
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President
of Argentina
between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union
.
Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres
, Corrientes Province
. Born to Isabel Ercoli and Giulio Frondizi, Italian Argentine
immigrants from the Umbria
Region, Arturo had ten brothers, including Silvio
, who became a lawyer and was assassinated in 1974 by the Triple A, and Risieri, who became a philosopher and rector of the University of Buenos Aires
(UBA). The family relocated to Concepción del Uruguay
in 1912, and in 1923 to Buenos Aires
, where Frondizi enrolled in the UBA, in 1926.
Frondizi graduated from the UBA Law School with honors in 1930, and entered politics following the coup against President Hipólito Yrigoyen
, the longtime leader of the centrist UCR
, and the first Argentine President elected via universal (male) suffrage. Arrested in 1931, he emerged as an editor of a number of UCR-leaning journals, and formally joined the party the following year. He earned a juris doctor
in 1932, and in July of that year, was among those who spoke in eulogy at Yrigoyen's funeral march. His first case as an attorney was representing 300 political prisoner
s detained in his native Paso de los Libres for their support of the banned UCR.
In the interim, Frondizi married the former Elena Faggionato in 1933, and in 1935, built a summer cottage in the then-secluded seaside resort town of Pinamar
, which after the birth of their daughter, Elena (their only child), in 1937, the Frondizis christened Elenita. He led the Argentine League for the Rights of Man, the nation's first recorded human rights
organization, upon its founding in 1936, and in December, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while addressing a crowd.
Drafting a progressive platform alternative for the UCR ahead of the February 1946 elections
(the 1945 Declaration of Avellaneda
), he was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
in 1946. He founded the Intransigence and Renewal Movement (MIR) faction of the UCR and stood for Vice President on Ricardo Balbín
's UCR ticket for the 1951 elections
, which they lost overwhelmingly to incumbent, President Juan Perón
. Parting ways with Balbin, he formed an "intransigent" wing of the UCR, the UCRI, which parted with the more conservative and anti-Peronist Ricardo Balbín
in the UCR's 1956 convention.
Enjoying support from Peronist Party voters (whose party had been banned by outgoing President Pedro Aramburu) after Frondizi's closest collaborator, businessman Rogelio Frigerio
, obtained the exiled Perón's endorsement, the UCRI won the February 1958 elections
.
Better able to maneuver after the 1959 recession, his economic policies (known as desarrollismo — "developmentalism") had paid off by 1961, and he earned the support of much of the country's large middle class
. He attempted to lift the electoral ban on Peronism
, and met with Che Guevara
and Fidel Castro
in an attempt to mediate their dispute with the United States
. This led the military
to withdraw their grudging support.
Peronists, for their part, 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, and he signed the Conintes Plan in 1960, which banned communism
and suspended civil liberties
, but which he eschewed implementing. Frondizi attempted to negotiate an entente between the U.S. and Cuba with a secret, August 1961 meeting at the Quinta de Olivos
residence with Cuban envoy (and fellow Argentine) Che Guevara
. The military, however, scuttled any future talks, and Frondizi adopted a neutral stance afterwards.
Elections in March 1962
, ahead of which Frondizi lifted the ban on Peronists, resulted in significant victories for the latter, notably the election of Andrés Framini
as Governor of Buenos Aires Province
(the nation's largest). The news triggered a military mutiny, however, and though the President annulled the results, on March 28, he was deposed by a coup d'état
.
the various private railway companies from French and British interests. The panoply of nationalized companies were modernized and expanded, but were also left with bloated payrolls that had strained national budgets since.
On taking office, Frondizi called on economist Rogelio Frigerio
to institute 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 (that, in the 1950s, reached 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 pursued early on by Perón, though as a young congressman he supported them (as evidenced by the Declaration of Avellaneda
). Frigerio put Frondizi's vision into practice by sanctioning a key law: the Law of Foreign Investment. This law gave the same incentives, especially tax benefits, that local companies had to foreign corporations and created the Department and Commission of Foreign Investments, which was designed to give foreign investors more legal recourse.
Frigerio's plans were ambitious, calling for greatly expanded public lending for homebuilders and local industry, as well as related public works, and he enjoyed broad support from Argentina's large middle class
. Foreign direct investment
, though concentrated in the oil and auto sectors, extended into appliance manufacturing, and other industries, and of the sum total invested in Argentina between 1912 and 1975, 23% took place in Frondizi's four years.
One major obstacle was the military
, whose upper echelons were larded with men from Argentina's old agricultural elites (many of whom were ultraconservative and had well-documented racist, anti-Semitic attitudes and fascist ties). The generals, therefore, objected to Frigerio and imposed one of their own on the president—defense contractor Álvaro Alsogaray
.
Ignored by Frondizi as long as possible, Alsogaray finally forced his austerity
"shock treatment" on the president in December, 1958. Sharply devaluing the currency, curtailing Frigerio's lending programs and shredding subsidies and other social programs, the perennially TV-conscious Alsogaray apperared before viewers and armed with pie charts, he infamously declared that Argentines "must go through winter."
The measures forced consumer prices to double in less than year (the country had been used to 20-30%), and hammered real wages and business investment, both of which fell by about 20%. The 1959 recession, however, allowed Frondizi to marginalize Alsogaray in favor of Rogelio Frigerio, and the former eventually resigned. Frigerio revived the suffering loan, public works and social programs and benefitting from his earlier measures, automakers (most of whom were subsidiaries of U.S. and European firms and in partnership with Argentine investors) primed production from 30,000 units in 1958 (60% of the market) to 137,000 by 1961, making Argentina a self-sufficient auto market. These investments also benefited the agrarian sector
by raising tractor
output from 10,000 to 25,000, and contributing to a marked rise in exports after 1961. Subsidiaries of European and U.S. automakers were joined by local startups, notably Siam di Tella
, which benefited from increased public credit availability.
Steel production was prioritized, and fostered with the establishment of a State enterprise, SOMISA, in July 1960, and with the completion of a steel mill
in San Nicolás de los Arroyos
. Steel production tripled to 700,000 tons (40% of the local market), and the production of pig iron
, from 30,000 to 400,000 tons. The segment of GDP most tied to industrial growth, capital goods investment, was the only one to grow substantially during Frondizi's tenure: while the economy grew by a modest 8% from 1958 to 1961 (Frondizi's last full year in office), that portion nearly doubled in real value.
When Frondizi came into office in 1958 the oil production had not grown significantly since the sometimes abusive Standard Oil
was forced out in the 1930s and as Argentina became more motorized, oil imports were soon the country leading drain of foreign exchange. A contentious issue by the 1940s, the UCR (Radical Civic Union
) favoured a state monopoly, which they felt was the only way to maintain control on the oil reserves
. In the Declaration of Avellaneda (later the common platform shared 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 became policy.
As the Declaration of Avellaneda
mentioned these ends but not the means, this statement was later used by Frondizi to justify the use of foreign investment. The issue became among the most debated political controversies, and reportedly resulted in the resignation of the Vice President, Alejandro Gómez, in late 1958.
During Frondizi's administration, in summary, foreign investment was most encouraged into the sectors creating most of the trade deficits chronic to the Argentine economy
between 1949 and 1962; indeed, 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 greatest projects went into the exploration of new oil fields, and record public investment in the petrochemical
sector led to a fivefold increase in synthetic rubber
production; by 1962, production of crude tripled to 16 million cubic meters, which achieved self-sufficiency, freed hundreds of millions of dollars in import costs yearly, and helped lead to thirteen years of nearly uninterrupted growth, particularly in industry.
Many of the projects mentioned required an enormous amount to finance, money which the administration did not have. To be able to finish these "monumental" projects, Frondizi's plan called on a combination of foreign and state investment. Frondizi prioritized electricity and directed then-record resources into hydroelectric dams. The two main hydroelectric dams in discussion were El Chocón, near the border with Chile
, and Salto Grande
, on the border with Uruguay
. The "feasibility studies" for both these projects was already done in Yrigoyen's first presidency (1916–22) but they were never put into practice.
These projects would help meet the increasing demand for electricity, decreasing reliance on oil powered generators. Frequent power outages in the Buenos Aires metro area were eased by the establishment of Segba, and work began on initiating regional power grid integration with Chile and Uruguay. Although none of these projects was entirely finished during Frondizi's presidency, both of them were eventually finished because his administration not only started with the construction itself, but also laid the necessary diplomatic framework with Argentina's neighbors.
Public transport, however, did not improve, as the administration prioritized growth in the auto industry. Rail transport in Argentina
had been operated by the state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos
since 1947, and despite subsequent investment in standardizing the myriad rail gauge
s, for instance, service continued to gradually deteriorate. During Frondizi's administration no new subway or train stations were built or improved. Moreover, he implemented a World Bank
project endorsed by Alsogaray, and entailing the lifting of a third of the nation's 47,000 km (29,000 mi) of track, the disposal of 70,000 wagons, and the dismissal of as many workers (triggering a six-week strike in the critical sector in 1961).
He promoted growth in the nation's air travel
sector, however, having 10 new regional airports built during his brief presidency, and further encouraged growth in the auto industry by paving 10,000 km (6,300 mi) of intercity roadways.
Frondizi's economic vision can be summarized as progressive, since it defeated long-held fears of economic development among many in Argentina. Although some aspects of the economy, especially heavy industry, were improved, Frondizi's administration failed to improve other important aspects such as public transport and agriculture.
Some of the problems that the administration was unable to solve dated from Perón's presidency, as discussed. Due to the enormous opposition to the privatisation of state-owned companies, some key sectors in which foreign investment could have arguably made a great difference—telecommunications, in particular—continued to grow very slowly. Perón's influence on public opinion, particularly on that of working class Argentines, was partially responsible for this problem. The broad agenda he pursued while overshadowed by conservative and military threats, and during his brief tenure, can be summarized with what President Raúl Alfonsín
said about his own presidency twenty five years later: "We wanted, we had the resources, but we only accomplished part of our plan."
since 1956. The "backbone of the Peronist movement", as Perón referred to it, Frondizi's rappraochment with the CGT was designed to distance the powerful union, then South America's largest, from Peronism. Trade union leaders, however, remained extremely loyal to Perón, due as much to gratitude for past policies, as for the expectation of the power they could wield if Perón's return took place.
Following Perón's fall in 1955, this loyalty continued intact. Perón, in exile and initially stapped for funds, still wielded control over his movement and over the trade unions. The new peronism that emerged, "resistance Peronism," was based on strikes and violent manifestations by the trade unions against the state, and the main objective was to destabilize any government that was not Peronist. Following a relatively calm 1958, Perón's agreement with Frondizi soured when the latter opened oil exploration contracts to foreign bidders, and particularly during Alsogaray's "winter" of 1959. The constant resistance of organised labor provoked increasing friction with the military, which threatened the president with a coup no less than 26 times (not including 6 attempts by renegade generals).
Although in theory, Frondizi's administration wanted to avoid state intervention, and encourage a progressive social policy, it failed to democratize trade unions, most of whose leadership and systems were inherited from Perón's system.
Education was another controversial policy aspect. Frondizi's administration not only changed the curriculum; but also opened education to the private sector, including parochial schools. His policies also discouraged youth organizations, many of which were a Peronist legacy, or represented far-left, or far-right, agendas. Other reforms backed by Frondizi until the 1958 campaign, such as the legalization of divorce
(briefly accomplished by Perón, in 1954-55), were sidestepped in the interest of placating conservatives.
, a union of all trade unions, came under receivership from the military government, displacing its leadership. This clearly anti-Peronist policy would eventually lead to massive strikes and other types of resistance from the rank-and-file. At the time, Frondizi's position was against military control and in favour of a united trade union (Frondizi was the only non-Peronist politician who favoured this option), and this made the trade unions sympathetic to him, initially.
When Frondizi took office, he fulfilled his promise of maintaining a united CGT. Three groups of trade unions operated under the CGT umbrella at the time, and the idea was fiercely opposed by the 32s and 19s, since one centralized trade union would mean, in practice, that the workers movement would be controlled by the Peronists. The government faced two options, one was an election in which the proportional representation system was used; the other option was an electoral system which hand control of the trade unions to the majority (Peronist). Frondizi reversed Aramburu's attempts to de-Peronize labor, promptly returning six unions to their Peronist leadership, and appointing one of their own, Alfredo Allende, as Labor Minister.
To satisfy Peronist demands and avoid short term conflict, Frondizi issued new wage guidelines calling for a 60% raise in collective bargaining
contracts, and control of the CGT was given to the majority faction. Nevertheless, during 1958 the 62s supported the government and tried to reduce any working conflict. On the other hand the 19s and the 32s opposed the government by encouraging strikes and other workers' demonstrations. In the context of Economy Minister Alsogaray's "shock treatment" and ensuing inflation, the contracts that had been frozen by law in 1958 meant that the real salaries, which already had been sliding since Perón's fall in 1955, fell even further.
During 1959 the situation dramatically changed. The government issued Law 9270/56 of Professional Association which defined the relationship between state, employers and trade unions. This law among other things, allowed the state to intervene in the trade unions when it considered it necessary, by the use of force. The new law alarmed the Peronists, since it undermined their control over the trade unions, and also represented a threat to the so called "democratic" trade unions (non Peronist), since this law also stated that the CGT would be governed by its majority factions. The faction gaining control of the CGT during 1960 was the 20s, whose leader, textile union leader Andrés Framini
, was least willing to accept any form of government receivership over the CGT's governing board. Following a series of meetings with Frondizi and the president's political point man, Internal Affairs Minister Alfredo Vítolo, Framini obtained the lifting of federal receivership over the CGT in March 1961.
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. 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.
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 techers), in particular. Confident the new policy would be upheld, church supporters founded the Argentine Catholic University. 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."
The Educational Freedom Law, signed in early 1959, also freed private universities from limits imposed by the 1885 Avellaneda
Law, which forbad them from issuing official degrees directly, but 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. 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.
Frondizi, however, advanced other educational reforms to dovetail with his economic policy. His administration incorporated the National Workers' University network of campuses (technical school
s 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.
His administration enacted numerous progressive
measures despite ongoing military threats of coup, including the lifting of government receivership
over the CGT
to its trade union leadership in 1961, and the opening of education to the private sector. He also enacted more conservative measures, such as financing religious education, intervening the trade unions when needed, and imprisonment of trade union leaders, which continued after Frondizi took office. The Conintes Plan in 1960, which was just shy of martial law
, was lightly implemented, however, despite military enthusiasm for the policy. It banned the Communist Party of Argentina
and other parties and groups on the far left, ahead of the March 1960
mid-term elections, and became a pretext for surveillance and arrests during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
crisis, when communist elements and radical leftists within his own coalition began demanding action in support of Cuba.
Most of the measures in the second category were responses to pressure from anti-Peronist elements in the society, especially from the armed forces. Others, such as aiding religious education, were a response to the need for support from conservative groups, such as the Church, which still had a great influence on the majority of the society. Summarizing the social policies carried out by Frondizi's administration it could be said that overall it was not a progressive one; but, rather one careful to abide by conservative interests.
or the Non-Aligned Movement
. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
visited Argentina in March 1959, the first such visit since 1936, and the resulting Bariloche Declaration promoted the mutual protection of natural parks. Returning the courtesy in January 1961, he became the first Argentine president to visit the United States, as well as the first to visit India
and Japan
.
He formalized Argentina's support for LAFTA, the first Latin American free trade association, and for the Alliance for Progress
, the landmark Western Hemisphere policy of the new U.S. President, John F. Kennedy
. Helping remove obstacles to cooperation, he resolved minor but long-standing border disputes with Brazil.
Though commercial concerns continued to dominate foreign policy, Frondizi initiated negotiations between President Kennedy and Cuba
n representative Ernesto Che Guevara
during an Inter-American Economic and Social Council summit in Montevideo
, in August 1961. The secret meeting took place in the Quinta de Olivos
presidential residence, where Frondizi urged Guevara to act as an intermediary and pave the way for talks between Cuban Premier Fidel Castro
and President Kennedy. Following the August 18 meeting, Frondizi's emissaries made contact with Kennedy adviser Richard Goodwin
, though the effort was sabotaged by the Argentine Intelligence Agency
, which learned of the meeting with Guevara.
Ultimately, Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States
in January 1962. The effort, though fruitless, showed audacity on the part of Frondizi, whom President Kennedy called "a really tough man." The sizable Cuban exile community in Argentina reacted vigorously to the news, and organized a furtive mis-information campaign utilizing forged documents by which they believed the Argentine military could become convinced that a Cuban-sponsored communist takeover was in the planning. Calligraphers at Frondizi's service easily uncovered the hoax, however.
Displeasure in the military and among conservatives for Frondizi's Cuban initiative, as well as for his lifting the ban on Peronism ahead of the March 1962 mid-term elections
made a coup d'état
increasingly likely. Running on the Popular Union ticket, Peronists nominated Framini for governor of the Province of Buenos Aires (home to 38% of Argentines). Distanced from Frondizi since the 1959 recession, Perón added a further point of contention by having himself named Framini's running mate, a symbolic spot on the ticket which, unable to return, he could never fill, but which would prove a powerful endorsement to Framini.
Framini and Perón's other proxies won 10 of 14 governorships at stake, and Frondizi was forced to annul Framini's victory. He stopped short of annulling other Peronist victories, however, and in the face of a near-certain coup, he defiantly announced that he would not "resign, commit suicide, or leave the country."
He was overthrown on March 29, after being surrounded in the presidential offices at the Casa Rosada
by a decision of Army
Chief of Staff General Raúl Poggi. Frondizi was spirited to Martín García Island, a tiny exclave on the Río de la Plata
, and subsequently to the Andes
resort town of Bariloche, where he would spend the next year. His appointed successor, Senate
President José María Guido
, initially refused the dubious honor, citing loyalty to the president. He accepted, however, after a request he do so by Frondizi, himself.
The coup itself led to more rivalries within the military than it had calmed, and following a power struggle between Poggi and the hard-line Commander of the Cavalry
Corps, General Enrique Rauch, the relatively moderate ("blue" faction) prevailed with the appointment of General Juan Carlos Onganía
as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Onganía only narrowly avoided a takeover by the far-right, "red" faction of the military in the difficult subsequent months.
(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 again 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.
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 actively oppose him, however, and he initially welcomed the 1966 coup against Illia. Frigerio became a significant shareholder in Argentina's largest newsdaily, Clarín
, following a 1971 deal made with the newsdaily's owner, Ernestina Herrera de Noble
, whose late husband (Clarín founder Roberto Noble
), had supported Frondizi.
Perón's return from exile imminent, Frondizi opted to endorse the aging leader's ticket for the 1973 elections
, and following seven years of military rule, the reopened Argentine Congress included 12 MID Deputies. The return of peronism to power exacerbated political tensions in Argnetina, however, and among the hundreds of victims of the growing wave of violence was his own brother, Law Professor Silvio Frondizi
, who served as chief counsel to the Trotskyite ERP, and who lost his life in a 1974 attack by the fascist Triple A. Given little say by the new Peronist government, which, instead saw its policy shift from populism to erratic crisis management measures, Frondizi initially supported the 1976 coup against Perón's successor (his hapless widow, Isabel Perón). He dropped his early support for the regime in response to their ultra-conservative Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
, leading to death threats against numerous MID figures.
Allowing elections in 1983
, the dictatorship left an insolvent Argentina, its business and consumer confidence almost shattered and its international prestige damaged following the 1982 Falklands War
, an invasion Frondizi opposed. 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
, something which deprived their longshot candidacy of needed support, the MID fared poorly on election night, garnering 4th place (1.5%) and electing no congressmen.
Elected by an ample margin, UCR leader Raúl Alfonsín
left Frondizi out of the economic policy discussions he held before taking office, and Frigerio succeeded the ailing Frondizi as President of the MID in 1986, though the latter 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, and helped elect allies within the Justicialist Party
(Peronists), in Formosa
and Misiones Province
s, as well as Mayoral candidate Néstor Kirchner
in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz Province
; Kirchner went on become governor and, in 2003, President of Argentina. Frondizi supported Peronist candidate Carlos Menem
in the May 1989 elections
, though his support soured when Menem turned to neo-liberal and free trade
policies.
Frondizi lost his daughter in 1976, and his wife in 1990. Living in seclusion in his Beruti Street apartment (in Buenos Aires' northside
), Frondizi occasionally received political figures seeking advice, as was the case for former Formula One
driver Carlos Reutemann
, who as a supporter of his, sought his opinion on a 1991 bid for governor of Santa Fe Province
(to which Reutemann was elected).
Frondizi died on April 18, 1995, at age 86.
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union
Intransigent Radical Civic Union
The Intransigent Radical Civic Union or UCRI is a defunct political party of Argentina.The UCRI developed from the centrist Radical Civic Union in 1956, following a split at the party's convention in Tucumán...
.
Early life
Paso de los Libres
Paso de los Libres is a city in the east of the province of Corrientes in the Argentine Mesopotamia. It has about 44,000 inhabitants as of the , and is the head town of the department of the same name....
, Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
. Born to Isabel Ercoli and Giulio Frondizi, Italian Argentine
Italian Argentine
An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
immigrants from the Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
Region, Arturo had ten brothers, including Silvio
Silvio Frondizi
Silvio Frondizi was an Argentine intellectual and lawyer, brother of President Arturo Frondizi and of the philosopher Risieri Frondizi....
, who became a lawyer and was assassinated in 1974 by the Triple A, and Risieri, who became a philosopher and rector of the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
(UBA). The family relocated to Concepción del Uruguay
Concepción del Uruguay
Concepción del Uruguay is a city in Argentina.It is located in the Entre Ríos province, on the western shore of the Uruguay River, some 320 kilometers north from Buenos Aires. Its population is about 65,000 inhabitants .-History:...
in 1912, and in 1923 to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, where Frondizi enrolled in the UBA, in 1926.
Frondizi graduated from the UBA Law School with honors in 1930, and entered politics following the coup against President Hipólito Yrigoyen
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
, the longtime leader of the centrist UCR
UCR
UCR may refer to:* University of California, Riverside* Unified Cornish Revised, a variety of the Cornish language* Uniform Crime Reports* Under color removal* University of Costa Rica* Unión Cívica Radical, an Argentine political party...
, and the first Argentine President elected via universal (male) suffrage. Arrested in 1931, he emerged as an editor of a number of UCR-leaning journals, and formally joined the party the following year. He earned a juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1932, and in July of that year, was among those who spoke in eulogy at Yrigoyen's funeral march. His first case as an attorney was representing 300 political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s detained in his native Paso de los Libres for their support of the banned UCR.
In the interim, Frondizi married the former Elena Faggionato in 1933, and in 1935, built a summer cottage in the then-secluded seaside resort town of Pinamar
Pinamar
Pinamar is an Argentine coastal resort town located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Buenos Aires Province. It has about 20,000 inhabitants as per the ....
, which after the birth of their daughter, Elena (their only child), in 1937, the Frondizis christened Elenita. He led the Argentine League for the Rights of Man, the nation's first recorded human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organization, upon its founding in 1936, and in December, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while addressing a crowd.
Drafting a progressive platform alternative for the UCR ahead of the February 1946 elections
Argentine general election, 1946
The Argentine general election of 1946, the last for which only men were enfranchised, was held on 24 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 83.4%, it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions....
(the 1945 Declaration of Avellaneda
Declaration of Avellaneda
The Declaration of Avellaneda was the main platform of the intransigent movement inside the Argentine political party known as Radical Civic Union...
), he was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
in 1946. He founded the Intransigence and Renewal Movement (MIR) faction of the UCR and stood for Vice President on Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín was an Argentine lawyer and politician, and one of the most important figures of the centrist Radical Civic Union , for which he was the presidential nominee four times: in 1951, 1958, and twice in 1973....
's UCR ticket for the 1951 elections
Argentine general election, 1951
The Argentine general election of 1951, the first to have enfranchised women at the national level, was held on 11 November. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 88.0%, it produced the following results:-President:...
, which they lost overwhelmingly to incumbent, President Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
. Parting ways with Balbin, he formed an "intransigent" wing of the UCR, the UCRI, which parted with the more conservative and anti-Peronist Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín was an Argentine lawyer and politician, and one of the most important figures of the centrist Radical Civic Union , for which he was the presidential nominee four times: in 1951, 1958, and twice in 1973....
in the UCR's 1956 convention.
Enjoying support from Peronist Party voters (whose party had been banned by outgoing President Pedro Aramburu) after Frondizi's closest collaborator, businessman Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio was an Argentine economist, journalist and politician.-Background and early career:Rogelio Frigerio was born in Buenos Aires in 1914 to Gerónimo Frigerio and Carmen Guanzaroli...
, obtained the exiled Perón's endorsement, the UCRI won the February 1958 elections
Argentine general election, 1958
The Argentine general election of 1958 was held on 23 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 90.9% , it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions....
.
Presidency
Frondizi's term in office was marked by conservative and military interference over much domestic and international policy, leading to harsh 1959 austerity measures which caused civil unrest.Better able to maneuver after the 1959 recession, his economic policies (known as desarrollismo — "developmentalism") had paid off by 1961, and he earned the support of much of the country's large middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. He attempted to lift the electoral ban on Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
, and met with Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in an attempt to mediate their dispute with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. This led the military
Military of Argentina
The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in Spanish Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and a civilian Minister of Defense...
to withdraw their grudging support.
Peronists, for their part, 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, and he signed the Conintes Plan in 1960, which banned communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and suspended civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, but which he eschewed implementing. Frondizi attempted to negotiate an entente between the U.S. and Cuba with a secret, August 1961 meeting at the Quinta de Olivos
Quinta de Olivos
The Quinta de Olivos is an architectural landmark in the north side Buenos Aires suburb of Olivos and the official residence of the President of Argentina.-Overview:...
residence with Cuban envoy (and fellow Argentine) Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
. The military, however, scuttled any future talks, and Frondizi adopted a neutral stance afterwards.
Elections in March 1962
Argentine legislative election, 1962
The Argentine legislative elections of 1962 was held on 18 March. Voters chose their legislators and governors; with a turnout of 85.7%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:*Results were annulled on May 1.-Background:...
, ahead of which Frondizi lifted the ban on Peronists, resulted in significant victories for the latter, notably the election of Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini was an Argentine labor leader and politician.-Early career:Andrés Framini was born in the working-class La Plata suburb of Berisso, in 1914. He entered the labor force as a peon in one of Buenos Aires' many textile manufacturers, eventually working for the important Piccaluga...
as Governor of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
(the nation's largest). The news triggered a military mutiny, however, and though the President annulled the results, on March 28, he was deposed by a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
.
Introduction
Frondizi sought to strengthen the economy by solving the main economic problems that had haunted Argentina over the last twenty years. Some of these main problems were the 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). Many of the economic problems that the country had when Frondizi came into office were inheritited from Perón's 1946-55 administration, particularly that of the budget deficits caused by the huge railroad subsidies during this period. These subsidies alone cost the treasury a million dollars a day and in fact, much of the US$1.7 billion in reserves Perón had inherited were used to purchaseRailway Nationalisation in Argentina
In 1948, during President Juan Perón’s first term of office, the seven British-owned and three French-owned railway companies then operating in Argentina, were purchased by the state...
the various private railway companies from French and British interests. The panoply of nationalized companies were modernized and expanded, but were also left with bloated payrolls that had strained national budgets since.
On taking office, Frondizi called on economist Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio was an Argentine economist, journalist and politician.-Background and early career:Rogelio Frigerio was born in Buenos Aires in 1914 to Gerónimo Frigerio and Carmen Guanzaroli...
to institute 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 (that, in the 1950s, reached less than half the population, and fewer than 20% in the poorer north
Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region...
). Frondizi's economic vision was a radical departure from the nationalist one pursued early on by Perón, though as a young congressman he supported them (as evidenced by the Declaration of Avellaneda
Declaration of Avellaneda
The Declaration of Avellaneda was the main platform of the intransigent movement inside the Argentine political party known as Radical Civic Union...
). Frigerio put Frondizi's vision into practice by sanctioning a key law: the Law of Foreign Investment. This law gave the same incentives, especially tax benefits, that local companies had to foreign corporations and created the Department and Commission of Foreign Investments, which was designed to give foreign investors more legal recourse.
Frigerio's plans were ambitious, calling for greatly expanded public lending for homebuilders and local industry, as well as related public works, and he enjoyed broad support from Argentina's large middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
, though concentrated in the oil and auto sectors, extended into appliance manufacturing, and other industries, and of the sum total invested in Argentina between 1912 and 1975, 23% took place in Frondizi's four years.
One major obstacle was the military
Military of Argentina
The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in Spanish Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and a civilian Minister of Defense...
, whose upper echelons were larded with men from Argentina's old agricultural elites (many of whom were ultraconservative and had well-documented racist, anti-Semitic attitudes and fascist ties). The generals, therefore, objected to Frigerio and imposed one of their own on the president—defense contractor Álvaro Alsogaray
Álvaro Alsogaray
Álvaro Carlos Alsogaray was an Argentine politician and businessman. Minister of Economy during much of the 1959-62 period, he was one of the principal proponents of economic conservatism in modern Argentina.-Early career:...
.
Ignored by Frondizi as long as possible, Alsogaray finally forced his austerity
Austerity
In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to...
"shock treatment" on the president in December, 1958. Sharply devaluing the currency, curtailing Frigerio's lending programs and shredding subsidies and other social programs, the perennially TV-conscious Alsogaray apperared before viewers and armed with pie charts, he infamously declared that Argentines "must go through winter."
The measures forced consumer prices to double in less than year (the country had been used to 20-30%), and hammered real wages and business investment, both of which fell by about 20%. The 1959 recession, however, allowed Frondizi to marginalize Alsogaray in favor of Rogelio Frigerio, and the former eventually resigned. Frigerio revived the suffering loan, public works and social programs and benefitting from his earlier measures, automakers (most of whom were subsidiaries of U.S. and European firms and in partnership with Argentine investors) primed production from 30,000 units in 1958 (60% of the market) to 137,000 by 1961, making Argentina a self-sufficient auto market. These investments also benefited the agrarian sector
Agriculture in Argentina
Agriculture is one of the bases of Argentina's economy.Argentine agriculture is relatively capital intensive, today providing about 7% of all employment, and, even during its period of dominance around 1900, accounting for no more than a third of all labor. Having accounted for nearly 20% of GDP as...
by raising tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
output from 10,000 to 25,000, and contributing to a marked rise in exports after 1961. Subsidiaries of European and U.S. automakers were joined by local startups, notably Siam di Tella
Siam di Tella
Siam Di Tella was an Argentine manufacturing company; the name Siam is an acronym from Sección Industrial Amasadoras Mecánicas.-Early years:...
, which benefited from increased public credit availability.
Steel production was prioritized, and fostered with the establishment of a State enterprise, SOMISA, in July 1960, and with the completion of a steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
in San Nicolás de los Arroyos
San Nicolás de los Arroyos
San Nicolás de los Arroyos is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the western shore of the Paraná River, 61 km from Rosario. It has about 138,000 inhabitants . It is the head town of the partido of the same name...
. Steel production tripled to 700,000 tons (40% of the local market), and the production of pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
, from 30,000 to 400,000 tons. The segment of GDP most tied to industrial growth, capital goods investment, was the only one to grow substantially during Frondizi's tenure: while the economy grew by a modest 8% from 1958 to 1961 (Frondizi's last full year in office), that portion nearly doubled in real value.
Petroleum
The development of Argentina's sizable petroleum reserves had played a key role in Argentine politics since the formation of the state oil concern YPF in 1922 and, as well as becoming critical to industrialization, it soon became a tool to foster nationalism among voters.When Frondizi came into office in 1958 the oil production had not grown significantly since the sometimes abusive Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
was forced out in the 1930s and as Argentina became more motorized, oil imports were soon the country leading drain of foreign exchange. A contentious issue by the 1940s, the UCR (Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
) favoured a state monopoly, which they felt was the only way to maintain control on the oil reserves
Oil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...
. In the Declaration of Avellaneda (later the common platform shared by Balbin's UCRP—his wing of the UCR—and Frondizi's UCRI) the state's need to invest in oil exploration
Oil exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits beneath the Earth's surface, such as oil and natural gas...
and to make Argentina self-sufficient in the short term became policy.
As the Declaration of Avellaneda
Declaration of Avellaneda
The Declaration of Avellaneda was the main platform of the intransigent movement inside the Argentine political party known as Radical Civic Union...
mentioned these ends but not the means, this statement was later used by Frondizi to justify the use of foreign investment. The issue became among the most debated political controversies, and reportedly resulted in the resignation of the Vice President, Alejandro Gómez, in late 1958.
During Frondizi's administration, in summary, foreign investment was most encouraged into the sectors creating most of the trade deficits chronic to the Argentine economy
Economy of Argentina
This article provides an overview of the Economic history of Argentina.-Emergence into the world economy:Prior to the 1880s, Argentina was a relatively isolated backwater, dependent on the wool, leather and hide industry for both the greater part of its foreign exchange and the generation of...
between 1949 and 1962; indeed, 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 greatest projects went into the exploration of new oil fields, and record public investment in the petrochemical
Petrochemical
Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....
sector led to a fivefold increase in synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber is is any type of artificial elastomer, invariably a polymer. An elastomer is a material with the mechanical property that it can undergo much more elastic deformation under stress than most materials and still return to its previous size without permanent deformation...
production; by 1962, production of crude tripled to 16 million cubic meters, which achieved self-sufficiency, freed hundreds of millions of dollars in import costs yearly, and helped lead to thirteen years of nearly uninterrupted growth, particularly in industry.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure had been the object of growing public investment since 1920; but, where Argentina's educational and health network had grown into the most extensive ones in Latin America, the road network and public transport had changed little since the 1940s. Although it managed to breathe new life into important highway projects, the Frondizi administration accomplished less than it had set out to.Many of the projects mentioned required an enormous amount to finance, money which the administration did not have. To be able to finish these "monumental" projects, Frondizi's plan called on a combination of foreign and state investment. Frondizi prioritized electricity and directed then-record resources into hydroelectric dams. The two main hydroelectric dams in discussion were El Chocón, near the border with Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and Salto Grande
Salto Grande
This article is about a place in Brazil; for the Chilean waterfall, see Salto Grande, Chile.Salto Grande is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 was 8,988 and the area is 211.17 km². The elevation is 396 m....
, on the border with Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. The "feasibility studies" for both these projects was already done in Yrigoyen's first presidency (1916–22) but they were never put into practice.
These projects would help meet the increasing demand for electricity, decreasing reliance on oil powered generators. Frequent power outages in the Buenos Aires metro area were eased by the establishment of Segba, and work began on initiating regional power grid integration with Chile and Uruguay. Although none of these projects was entirely finished during Frondizi's presidency, both of them were eventually finished because his administration not only started with the construction itself, but also laid the necessary diplomatic framework with Argentina's neighbors.
Public transport, however, did not improve, as the administration prioritized growth in the auto industry. Rail transport in Argentina
Rail transport in Argentina
The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...
had been operated by the state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos
Ferrocarriles Argentinos
Ferrocarriles Argentinos was a public company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private railway companies were nationalised during Perón's first presidential term, and transformed into the Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado...
since 1947, and despite subsequent investment in standardizing the myriad rail gauge
Rail gauge
Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
s, for instance, service continued to gradually deteriorate. During Frondizi's administration no new subway or train stations were built or improved. Moreover, he implemented a World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
project endorsed by Alsogaray, and entailing the lifting of a third of the nation's 47,000 km (29,000 mi) of track, the disposal of 70,000 wagons, and the dismissal of as many workers (triggering a six-week strike in the critical sector in 1961).
He promoted growth in the nation's air travel
Air travel
Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting or anything else that can sustain flight.-Domestic and international flights:...
sector, however, having 10 new regional airports built during his brief presidency, and further encouraged growth in the auto industry by paving 10,000 km (6,300 mi) of intercity roadways.
Conclusion
During Frondizi's administration the country experienced an important economic transition. The policy of Developmentalism brought with it foreign investment in underdeveloped industries like petrochemicals, the auto industry and steel and helped usher in over a decade of relative prosperity. Although some important projects were started there was, however, no unified policy towards infrastructure, which did not dramatically improve.Frondizi's economic vision can be summarized as progressive, since it defeated long-held fears of economic development among many in Argentina. Although some aspects of the economy, especially heavy industry, were improved, Frondizi's administration failed to improve other important aspects such as public transport and agriculture.
Some of the problems that the administration was unable to solve dated from Perón's presidency, as discussed. Due to the enormous opposition to the privatisation of state-owned companies, some key sectors in which foreign investment could have arguably made a great difference—telecommunications, in particular—continued to grow very slowly. Perón's influence on public opinion, particularly on that of working class Argentines, was partially responsible for this problem. The broad agenda he pursued while overshadowed by conservative and military threats, and during his brief tenure, can be summarized with what President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
said about his own presidency twenty five years later: "We wanted, we had the resources, but we only accomplished part of our plan."
Introduction
During the developmentalist years, Frondizi focused social policy on the relationship between the state and trade unions, the largest of which (the CGT) had been in government receivershipReceivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
since 1956. The "backbone of the Peronist movement", as Perón referred to it, Frondizi's rappraochment with the CGT was designed to distance the powerful union, then South America's largest, from Peronism. Trade union leaders, however, remained extremely loyal to Perón, due as much to gratitude for past policies, as for the expectation of the power they could wield if Perón's return took place.
Following Perón's fall in 1955, this loyalty continued intact. Perón, in exile and initially stapped for funds, still wielded control over his movement and over the trade unions. The new peronism that emerged, "resistance Peronism," was based on strikes and violent manifestations by the trade unions against the state, and the main objective was to destabilize any government that was not Peronist. Following a relatively calm 1958, Perón's agreement with Frondizi soured when the latter opened oil exploration contracts to foreign bidders, and particularly during Alsogaray's "winter" of 1959. The constant resistance of organised labor provoked increasing friction with the military, which threatened the president with a coup no less than 26 times (not including 6 attempts by renegade generals).
Although in theory, Frondizi's administration wanted to avoid state intervention, and encourage a progressive social policy, it failed to democratize trade unions, most of whose leadership and systems were inherited from Perón's system.
Education was another controversial policy aspect. Frondizi's administration not only changed the curriculum; but also opened education to the private sector, including parochial schools. His policies also discouraged youth organizations, many of which were a Peronist legacy, or represented far-left, or far-right, agendas. Other reforms backed by Frondizi until the 1958 campaign, such as the legalization of divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
(briefly accomplished by Perón, in 1954-55), were sidestepped in the interest of placating conservatives.
The government and its relationship with labor
After the fall of the Peronist regime in 1955 its vital structure, the CGTGeneral Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
, a union of all trade unions, came under receivership from the military government, displacing its leadership. This clearly anti-Peronist policy would eventually lead to massive strikes and other types of resistance from the rank-and-file. At the time, Frondizi's position was against military control and in favour of a united trade union (Frondizi was the only non-Peronist politician who favoured this option), and this made the trade unions sympathetic to him, initially.
When Frondizi took office, he fulfilled his promise of maintaining a united CGT. Three groups of trade unions operated under the CGT umbrella at the time, and the idea was fiercely opposed by the 32s and 19s, since one centralized trade union would mean, in practice, that the workers movement would be controlled by the Peronists. The government faced two options, one was an election in which the proportional representation system was used; the other option was an electoral system which hand control of the trade unions to the majority (Peronist). Frondizi reversed Aramburu's attempts to de-Peronize labor, promptly returning six unions to their Peronist leadership, and appointing one of their own, Alfredo Allende, as Labor Minister.
To satisfy Peronist demands and avoid short term conflict, Frondizi issued new wage guidelines calling for a 60% raise in collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
contracts, and control of the CGT was given to the majority faction. Nevertheless, during 1958 the 62s supported the government and tried to reduce any working conflict. On the other hand the 19s and the 32s opposed the government by encouraging strikes and other workers' demonstrations. In the context of Economy Minister Alsogaray's "shock treatment" and ensuing inflation, the contracts that had been frozen by law in 1958 meant that the real salaries, which already had been sliding since Perón's fall in 1955, fell even further.
During 1959 the situation dramatically changed. The government issued Law 9270/56 of Professional Association which defined the relationship between state, employers and trade unions. This law among other things, allowed the state to intervene in the trade unions when it considered it necessary, by the use of force. The new law alarmed the Peronists, since it undermined their control over the trade unions, and also represented a threat to the so called "democratic" trade unions (non Peronist), since this law also stated that the CGT would be governed by its majority factions. The faction gaining control of the CGT during 1960 was the 20s, whose leader, textile union leader Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini was an Argentine labor leader and politician.-Early career:Andrés Framini was born in the working-class La Plata suburb of Berisso, in 1914. He entered the labor force as a peon in one of Buenos Aires' many textile manufacturers, eventually working for the important Piccaluga...
, was least willing to accept any form of government receivership over the CGT's governing board. Following a series of meetings with Frondizi and the president's political point man, Internal Affairs Minister Alfredo Vítolo, Framini obtained the lifting of federal receivership over the CGT in March 1961.
Educational Reforms
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
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.
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 techers), in particular. Confident the new policy would be upheld, church supporters founded the Argentine Catholic University. 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
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
(his brother, Risieri), Frondizi was open about his motivation for the policy change, declaring that "I need the support of the church."
The Educational Freedom Law, signed in early 1959, also freed private universities from limits imposed by the 1885 Avellaneda
Nicolás Avellaneda
Nicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva was an Argentine politician and journalist, and president of Argentina from 1874 to 1880. Avellaneda's main projects while in office were banking and education reform, leading to Argentina's economic growth...
Law, which forbad them from issuing official degrees directly, but 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. 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.
Frondizi, however, advanced other educational reforms to dovetail with his economic policy. His administration incorporated the National Workers' University network of campuses (technical school
Technical school
Technical school is a general term used for two-year college which provide mostly employment-preparation skills for trained labor, such as welding, culinary arts and office management.-Associations supporting technical schools:...
s inaugurated by Perón in 1948) into the national university
National university
A national university is generally a university created or run by a government, but which at the same time operates autonomously without direct oversight or control by the state. Some national universities are closely associated with national cultural or political aspirations...
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.
Conclusion
The social aspect of Frondizi's government was influenced more by pressure groups than by its own initiative. Although some of the measures taken can be understood as part of a progressive movement, most of them are in fact conservative, since their intent was to maintain the status quo established by the previous military government.His administration enacted numerous progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
measures despite ongoing military threats of coup, including the lifting of government receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
over the CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
to its trade union leadership in 1961, and the opening of education to the private sector. He also enacted more conservative measures, such as financing religious education, intervening the trade unions when needed, and imprisonment of trade union leaders, which continued after Frondizi took office. The Conintes Plan in 1960, which was just shy of martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
, was lightly implemented, however, despite military enthusiasm for the policy. It banned the Communist Party of Argentina
Communist Party of Argentina
The Communist Party of Argentina is a communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1918.At the 2005 legislative elections, the Party joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province...
and other parties and groups on the far left, ahead of the March 1960
Argentine legislative election, 1960
The Argentine legislative elections of 1960 was held on 27 March. Voters chose their legislators, and with a turnout of 87.1%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:-Background:...
mid-term elections, and became a pretext for surveillance and arrests during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
crisis, when communist elements and radical leftists within his own coalition began demanding action in support of Cuba.
Most of the measures in the second category were responses to pressure from anti-Peronist elements in the society, especially from the armed forces. Others, such as aiding religious education, were a response to the need for support from conservative groups, such as the Church, which still had a great influence on the majority of the society. Summarizing the social policies carried out by Frondizi's administration it could be said that overall it was not a progressive one; but, rather one careful to abide by conservative interests.
Foreign policy
Frondizi cultivated good relations with the United States without straining those with BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
or the Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
visited Argentina in March 1959, the first such visit since 1936, and the resulting Bariloche Declaration promoted the mutual protection of natural parks. Returning the courtesy in January 1961, he became the first Argentine president to visit the United States, as well as the first to visit India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
He formalized Argentina's support for LAFTA, the first Latin American free trade association, and for the Alliance for Progress
Alliance for Progress
The Alliance for Progress initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961 aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and South America.-Origin and goals:...
, the landmark Western Hemisphere policy of the new U.S. President, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Helping remove obstacles to cooperation, he resolved minor but long-standing border disputes with Brazil.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n representative Ernesto Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
during an Inter-American Economic and Social Council summit in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, in August 1961. The secret meeting took place in the Quinta de Olivos
Quinta de Olivos
The Quinta de Olivos is an architectural landmark in the north side Buenos Aires suburb of Olivos and the official residence of the President of Argentina.-Overview:...
presidential residence, where Frondizi urged Guevara to act as an intermediary and pave the way for talks between Cuban Premier Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and President Kennedy. Following the August 18 meeting, Frondizi's emissaries made contact with Kennedy adviser Richard Goodwin
Richard Goodwin
Richard Goodwin may refer to:*Richard N. Goodwin , American writer and advisor to US Presidents Kennedy and Johnson*Richard M. Goodwin , American mathematician and economist*Richard Elton Goodwin , British Army General...
, though the effort was sabotaged by the Argentine Intelligence Agency
Side
Side was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia, in the region of Pamphylia, in what is now Antalya province, on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey...
, which learned of the meeting with Guevara.
Ultimately, Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
in January 1962. The effort, though fruitless, showed audacity on the part of Frondizi, whom President Kennedy called "a really tough man." The sizable Cuban exile community in Argentina reacted vigorously to the news, and organized a furtive mis-information campaign utilizing forged documents by which they believed the Argentine military could become convinced that a Cuban-sponsored communist takeover was in the planning. Calligraphers at Frondizi's service easily uncovered the hoax, however.
Overthrow
Argentine legislative election, 1962
The Argentine legislative elections of 1962 was held on 18 March. Voters chose their legislators and governors; with a turnout of 85.7%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:*Results were annulled on May 1.-Background:...
made a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
increasingly likely. Running on the Popular Union ticket, Peronists nominated Framini for governor of the Province of Buenos Aires (home to 38% of Argentines). Distanced from Frondizi since the 1959 recession, Perón added a further point of contention by having himself named Framini's running mate, a symbolic spot on the ticket which, unable to return, he could never fill, but which would prove a powerful endorsement to Framini.
Framini and Perón's other proxies won 10 of 14 governorships at stake, and Frondizi was forced to annul Framini's victory. He stopped short of annulling other Peronist victories, however, and in the face of a near-certain coup, he defiantly announced that he would not "resign, commit suicide, or leave the country."
He was overthrown on March 29, after being surrounded in the presidential offices at the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
by a decision of Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
Chief of Staff General Raúl Poggi. Frondizi was spirited to Martín García Island, a tiny exclave on the Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
, and subsequently to the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
resort town of Bariloche, where he would spend the next year. His appointed successor, Senate
Argentine Senate
The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...
President José María Guido
José María Guido
José María Guido was an interim President of Argentina from 30 March 1962 to 12 October 1963.Guido was elected to the Argentine Senate for Río Negro Province in 1958, representing the Intransigent Radical Civic Union...
, initially refused the dubious honor, citing loyalty to the president. He accepted, however, after a request he do so by Frondizi, himself.
The coup itself led to more rivalries within the military than it had calmed, and following a power struggle between Poggi and the hard-line Commander of the Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
Corps, General Enrique Rauch, the relatively moderate ("blue" faction) prevailed with the appointment of General Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Onganía only narrowly avoided a takeover by the far-right, "red" faction of the military in the difficult subsequent months.
Later life
Following Frondizi's release from detention in July 1963, and Frigerio's return from exile, they founded the Integration and Development MovementIntegration and Development Movement
The Integration and Development Movement or MID is a political party in Argentina.-Historical overview:Flying to Caracas, Venezuela in 1956, Argentine wholesaler and publisher Rogelio Frigerio secretly negotiated an agreement between his friend, the centrist UCR's 1951 vice-presidential nominee...
(MID) on a developmentalist
Developmentalism
Developmentalism is an economic theory which states that the best way for Third World countries to develop is through fostering a strong and varied internal market and to impose high tariffs on imported goods....
platform. Unable to field candidates in the 1963 elections
Argentine general election, 1963
The Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.6%, it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions.-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:...
due to military and conservative opposition, the MID and Perón agreed on a "National Popular Front." The alliance was again 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
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
Governor, Oscar Alende
Oscar Alende
Oscar Eduardo Alende was an Argentine politician who founded the Intransigent Party.Alende was born in Maipú, Buenos Aires Province. He studied medicine at the University of La Plata, where he led the student union, and completed his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 1933...
, an erstwhile Frondizi ally who ran on the UCRI ticket (its last) and finished second.
Following the pragmatic Arturo Illia's election, the MID was allowed to participate in the 1965 legislative elections
Argentine legislative election, 1965
The Argentine legislative elections of 1965 were held on 17 March. Voters chose their legislators and, with a turnout of 83.5%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Congress:-Background:...
, sending 16 members to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
. Policy differences over Frondizi-era oil contracts, which Illia rescinded, led the MID to actively oppose him, however, and he initially welcomed the 1966 coup against Illia. Frigerio became a significant shareholder in Argentina's largest newsdaily, Clarín
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
, following a 1971 deal made with the newsdaily's owner, Ernestina Herrera de Noble
Ernestina Herrera de Noble
Ernestina Herrera de Noble is a prominent Argentine publisher and executive. She is the largest shareholder of the Grupo Clarín media conglomerate and director of the flagship Clarín newspaper.-Life and times:...
, whose late husband (Clarín founder Roberto Noble
Roberto Noble
Roberto Noble was an Argentine politician, journalist and publisher, perhaps best known for having founded Clarín, long Argentina's leading newsdaily and the most or second-most circulated in the Spanish-speaking world....
), had supported Frondizi.
Perón's return from exile imminent, Frondizi opted to endorse the aging leader's ticket for the 1973 elections
Argentine general election, March 1973
The first Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 11 March. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.5%, it produced the following results:-President:...
, and following seven years of military rule, the reopened Argentine Congress included 12 MID Deputies. The return of peronism to power exacerbated political tensions in Argnetina, however, and among the hundreds of victims of the growing wave of violence was his own brother, Law Professor Silvio Frondizi
Silvio Frondizi
Silvio Frondizi was an Argentine intellectual and lawyer, brother of President Arturo Frondizi and of the philosopher Risieri Frondizi....
, who served as chief counsel to the Trotskyite ERP, and who lost his life in a 1974 attack by the fascist Triple A. Given little say by the new Peronist government, which, instead saw its policy shift from populism to erratic crisis management measures, Frondizi initially supported the 1976 coup against Perón's successor (his hapless widow, Isabel Perón). He dropped his early support for the regime in response to their ultra-conservative Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz was an Argentine executive and policy maker. He served as Minister of the Economy under de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy during the self-styled National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early...
, leading to death threats against numerous MID figures.
Allowing elections in 1983
Argentine general election, 1983
The Argentine general election of 1983 was held on 30 October and marked the return of Democracy after the 1976's dictatorship self-known as National Reorganization Process...
, the dictatorship left an insolvent Argentina, its business and consumer confidence almost shattered and its international prestige damaged following the 1982 Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, an invasion Frondizi opposed. Suffering from the early stages of Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, Frondizi named his friend, Frigerio, the MID nominee for President. Refusing to condemn the regime's human rights atrocities
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
, something which deprived their longshot candidacy of needed support, the MID fared poorly on election night, garnering 4th place (1.5%) and electing no congressmen.
Elected by an ample margin, UCR leader Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
left Frondizi out of the economic policy discussions he held before taking office, and Frigerio succeeded the ailing Frondizi as President of the MID in 1986, though the latter 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, and helped elect allies within the Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
(Peronists), in Formosa
Formosa Province
Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. Its northeast end touches Asunción, Paraguay, and borders the provinces of Chaco and Salta to its south and west, respectively...
and Misiones Province
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
s, as well as Mayoral candidate Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz Province
Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
Santa Cruz is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut province to the north, and Chile to the west and south. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean...
; Kirchner went on become governor and, in 2003, President of Argentina. Frondizi supported Peronist candidate Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
in the May 1989 elections
Argentine general election, 1989
The Argentine general election of 1989 was held on 14 May. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.3%, it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions.-Argentine Congress:...
, though his support soured when Menem turned to neo-liberal and free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
policies.
Frondizi lost his daughter in 1976, and his wife in 1990. Living in seclusion in his Beruti Street apartment (in Buenos Aires' northside
Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires
Barrio Norte is the informal name given to a part of Buenos Aires centering around Santa Fe Avenue and the Recoleta district.Recoleta, Belgrano and Palermo, are within a region with a per capita immediately comparable with that of many European cities-Overview:An unofficial neighborhood, Barrio...
), Frondizi occasionally received political figures seeking advice, as was the case for former Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
driver Carlos Reutemann
Carlos Reutemann
Carlos Alberto Reutemann , nicknamed "Lole", is an Argentine former racing driver , and later a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party....
, who as a supporter of his, sought his opinion on a 1991 bid for governor of Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
(to which Reutemann was elected).
Frondizi died on April 18, 1995, at age 86.