SECOND PRESIDENCY OF YRIGOYEN: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS - HISTORY - 2025

The Second Presidency of Yrigoyen in Argentina began on October 12, 1928, after having won the elections held in April of that same year. The legislature should have lasted until 1934, but a coup ended his rule in 1930.

Yrigoyen had held the Presidency of the Republic between 1916 and 1922. He was the first politician of the Radical Civic Union to occupy the position and the first to be elected by secret and male suffrage, as established by the Sáenz-Peña de 1912 to democratize the country.

Source: By UnknownUnknown author (Instituto Nacional Yrigoyeneano), undefined

His second term was affected by the Great Depression of 1929 that hit the whole world. His style of government, caudillista and paternalistic, had made his party deeply divided. The president's political weakness made it a very contentious legislature, with some political assassinations included.

The most important project that Yrigoyen tried to pass during his tenure was to give the state control of the country's oil production. Many historians relate this attempt at nationalization to the subsequent coup.

Social, political and economic aspects

Hipólito Yrigoyen finished his first presidential term in 1922. His successor was Marcelo T. de Alvear, although a current of his party continued to support the outgoing leader.

His opponents within the organization, the antipersonalists, did not want the Radical Party to identify itself only with Yrigoyen. Shortly before the 1928 elections, they allied with the Conservatives trying to prevent their return to power.

As early as 1928, Yrigoyen and his supporters demonstrated their electoral strength. They were imposed in the regional elections of Tucumán, Santa Fe and Córdoba. With this, his candidacy for the Presidency of the country was leveled.

The voting was held on April 1 of that same year. Yrigoyen won with almost twice as many votes as his rival. Despite his age, 76, and several health problems, he was sworn in again in October.

Social aspects

The government that Yrigoyen had formed in his first legislature had been made up mostly of landowners. In 1928, he gave a change in the social composition, trying to expand citizen support. Thus, most of its ministers came from the middle class and there were several children of immigrants.

He soon increased public spending and proceeded to enact some social laws. Among these, the creation of a Ministry of Public Health, the Institute of Nutrition and granted grants to carry out medical research.

In the field of education, his government founded the Institute of Pedagogy, in order to improve the preparation of teachers.

In the area of ​​public health, the Ministry of Public Health, the Institute of Nutrition, were created, and various grants were awarded for medical research. Likewise, Yrigoyen drew up a law to regulate the 8-hour workday.

Despite these social policies, the economic crisis caused him to lose support among the middle and working class.

Political aspects

Yrigoyen, although he directed his government action to the middle class, also tried to take care of his relations with the elites and pressure groups. Among the latter, the army and foreign investors stood out.

In this way, in addition to carrying out reforms favorable to its core of voters, it also promoted policies that will calm the most powerful.

However, the Radicals had a very weak position in the Senate and did not control some key interior provinces either. These aspects could prevent the approval of its star measure: the control of oil.

The way to end this blockade was to intervene in the provinces of San Juan, Mendoza and Santa Fe. In the first two, the senators were from parties opposed to Irigoyen. They were Cantoni and Lencinas, respectively, two politicians closely related to the landowners. Both took their seats, although the election was contested.

Violence

Senator Cantoni, in addition to the landowners, had alliances with other anti-Yrigoyen groups, including some small groups of the extreme right. The political situation began to threaten to turn violent as the debates raged.

In Buenos Aires, tension increased during the second half of 1929. Yrigoyen's supporters created a paramilitary force, the radical Klan. The Rightists responded by founding another organization of the same type, the Republican League. Both groups began to confront shots frequently.

The assassination of Senator Lencinas on November 10 of that year further increased the tension. Yrigoyen was accused of ordering the crime, although without evidence. On the other hand, the President himself suffered an anarchist attack.

In 1930, it began with the assassinations of another opposition politician, in this case in one of the provinces intervened by the government.

Economic aspects

The legislature contemplated the agreement between Great Britain and Argentina on credits. At the end of 1929 the D'Abernon mission visited Buenos Aires, which negotiated and signed this agreement.

As a result, the two countries opened credit lines for 100 million pesos each. These served for Argentina to buy railway material.

Although the economy presented good results during the first months of the Yrigoyen government, the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929 caused a very important worsening of the population's situation.

The effects of the crisis reached Argentina in 1930. The balance of payments increased its deficit considerably and the US funds that had balanced it returned to the US Exports declined while investment funds evaporated.

Throughout that year, the peso lost value, depreciating up to 20%. To try to mitigate the effects, the convertibility of the currency was abandoned. Unemployment grew steadily.

Petroleum

The political and economic issue that marked Yrigoyen's second presidency was his attempt to nationalize oil. As early as 1927, the deputies had passed a law that limited concessions to foreign companies, but the Senate refused to deal with it.

In that refusal, according to the media of the time, was the relationship between some senators and foreign oil companies.

Yrigoyen was in favor of the State taking over the management of the oil industry. This provoked the rejection of the oligarchy in some provinces, as well as that of foreign companies in the sector.

Despite this, the state oil company, YPF, intervened in the market on August 1, 1930. Their intention was to fix the price and end the trusts. Many historians consider that this decision was one of those that caused the coup that would occur a few days later.

Overthrow

Just 37 days after the intervention in the oil market, Yrigoyen was deposed by a coup. On September 6, 1930, there was an uprising of sectors of the army, supported by the press, the country's oligarchy and the conservatives.

References

1. Econlink. 2nd Government of Yrigoyen (1928 - 1930). Obtained from econlink.com.ar
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Hipólito Irigoyen. Retrieved from britannica.com
3. Biography.com Editors. Hipólito Irigoyen Biography. Retrieved from biography.com
4. Oocities. Yrigoyen's second presidency, 1928-1930. Retrieved from oocities.org
5. Reed, Drew. Hipólito Yrigoyen: 100 Years On from the People's First President. Retrieved from argentinaindependent.com