WikiPortallus: Luis Muñoz Marín.html

By this time, Puerto Rico's political scenario had changed, the only party that was actively asking for independence was the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. That organization's president, Pedro Albizu Campos, occasionally visited Muñoz Marin. He was impressed the substance of Albizu's arguments, but their styles to achieve autonomy and social reforms were different.² In 1932, Barceló abandoned the Coalition, which by this time had weakened, seeking to establish a new independence movement. Barceló employed several of Muñoz Marin's ideas of social and economic reforms and autonomy, using them to form the ideological belief of a newly formed Liberal Party.² Muñoz Marin joined the Liberal Party and lead La Democracia, which had become the party's official newspaper. He believed that the only way to directly work with the reforms he promoted was by becoming an active politician.² Most of his discources discussed ways to provide more land, hospitals, food and schools to the general public. On March 13, 1932, Muñoz was nominated by the party for the post of senator. Although the party lost the 1932 elections, Muñoz Marin received enough votes to receive a position in the Puerto Rican Senate.³ Shorty after, Rudy Black, a reporter for La Democracia arranged a meeting between him and Eleanor Roosevelt. Muñoz Marin wanted her to examine Puerto Rico's problems personally and convinced her to travel to the main island.⁴ Five months later, Roosevelt was received in Fort San Felipe del Morro and La Fortaleza, before traveling to El Fangito a poor sector that had received the impact of an hurricane. Images from the visit were published by newspapers in Puerto Rico and the United States, which outraged former American governors that ruled over the archipelago, as well as the incumbent.⁵ Following his wife's report, Franklin D. Roosevelt included Puerto Rico in the New Deal program. Muñoz Marin became a popular political figure due to his involvement in the program.⁵

In 1937 political disagreements between Muñoz Marin and Antonio R. Barceló led to the expulsion of Muñoz Marín from the Liberal Party. This was mostly based on disagreements on how to bring independence to Puerto Rico. When a congressman wanted to "punish" Puerto Rico for the assassination of an American police officer, he proposed a bill called the "Tydings Bill".⁶ Some idependence supporters wanted to support the bill, but Muñoz Marin disagreed comparing it to a principle known as Ley de Fuga, where a police officer would arrest someone and kindly release him before shooting them in the back while retreating.⁶ This led to his expulsion, severely affecting his public image. He would then create a group named, the Pro-Independence Social Action ("Acción Social Independentista" known as "ASI") which would later give rise to the "Partido Liberal Neto, Auténtico y Completo" in opposition to the Liberal Party which Antonio R. Barceló headed.⁷

In 1938, Muñoz Marín would help in the creation of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (Partido Popular Democratico). The party's ideology promised to help the jíbaros, regardless of political belief, promoting the creation of minimal wages, initiatives to provide food and water, cooperatives to work with the agriculture and the creation of more industrial altenatives.⁸ Muñoz Marín concentrated his political campaigning in the rural areas of Puerto Rico. He attacked the then common practice of paying off rural farm workers to influence their vote, insisting that they "lend" their vote for only one election. The party's first rally attracted a solid participation, which was unexpected by the other political parties.⁹ During his campaign he met Inés Mendoza, who would later become his second wife.⁷ Mendoza was a teacher that had been fired after complaing about the United States' prohibition of teaching classes in Spanish. Both discussed the matter and agreed that substituting "one language for another is to diminish that country's capacity to be happy".¹⁰ Mendoza joined the campaign directed towards the jíbaros. Muñoz Marín and Muna Lee had separated, and he asked Mendoza to "stay with him all his life".¹¹ Due to the party's low income, he would sometimes stay in the houses of some jíbaros during the night.¹²

President of the Senate

In 1940 the Popular Democratic Party won in the Senate of Puerto Rico, a result which was attributed to the campaigning he did in the rural areas. Muñoz Marín was then elected the fourth President of the Senate.¹³ A month later, Mendoza gave birth to a daughter, which was named Victoria, in commemoration of the victory.¹⁴ During his term as President of the Senate, Muñoz was an advocate of the worker class of Puerto Rico.¹⁵ Along with Governor Rexford Tugwell, the last non-Puerto Rican appointed Governor of Puerto Rico by an American President, and the republican-socialist coalition which headed the House of Representatives, he would help advance legislation geared towards agricultural reform, economic recovery and industrialization.¹⁴ This program became known as Operation Bootstrap. It was coupled with a program of agrarian reform (land redistribution) which limited the area that could be held by large sugarcane interests. In the first forty years of this century, Puerto Rico's dominant economic product were sugarcane byproducts (sugar and molasses) for mainly U.S. market. Operation Bootstrap enticed U.S. mainland investors to transfer or create manufacturing plants by granting them local and federal tax concessions, but maintaining the access to US markets free of import duties. Another incentive was were the lower wage scales in the densely populated island, which had a rising urban unemployed population.

The program accelerated the shift from an agricultural to an industrial society; and, today, sugar production plays a relatively minor role in the island's economy. The 1950s saw the development of labor-intensive light industries, such as textiles; manufacturing later gave way to heavy industry, such as petrochemicals and oil refining, in the 1960s and 1970s. Jíbaros were taught in Spanish and adriestated to work in jobs being promoted by the government.¹⁶ Muñoz Marín backed legislation to limit the amount of land a company could own. Muñoz Marín's development programs brought some prosperity for an emergent middle class. The industrialization was in part fueled by generous local incentives, and freedom from federal taxation, while providing access to continental US markets without import duties. A rural agricultural society was transformed into an industrial working class. Muñoz Marín also launched "Operación Serenidad" (Operation Serenity), a series of projects geared towards promoting education and appreciation of the arts.¹⁷

During the early stages of World War II several Puerto Ricans were drafted to serve in the United States Army, which eased overpopulation in the main island. Muñoz Marín promoted the construction of public housing projects to resolve this problem.¹⁸ During the war he established low-interest scholarships and loans for the residents that weren't drafted. To attend health issues, costless public clinics were opened throughout Puerto Rico.¹⁸ In 1944 the Popular Democratic Party repeated the political victory of the previous elections. Muñoz Marín and Lee divorced on November 15, 1946. His decision to live with another woman without completing the process, attracted criticism from political adversaries. The following day, on November 16, 1946, Muñoz Marín married Inés Mendoza. The couple's first daughter was Viviana Muñoz Mendoza. After Congress approved legislation in 1947 allowing Puerto Ricans to elect their own Governor, Muñoz successfully campaigned for the post, thus becoming only the second Puerto Rican and the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.¹³

Governor

Muñoz Marin officially took office on January 2, 1949. He held the post of Governor for sixteen years, being re-elected again in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 elections. In 1957 Marín received an LL.D. from Bates College. Once the amount of illiteracy and other social problems were reduced, the party began debating how to establish an autonomous government.¹⁹ Munoz Marin reunited with his government officials, the group agreed to adopt an "Associate Free State" format that had been proposed by Barceló decades before. In Spanish the proposal's name remained unchanged, but was changed to "Commonwealth" in English translations, to avoid opposition from any congressman that could confuse it with another status, such as statehood.¹⁹ The main goal of the proposal was to move Puerto Rico away from colonialism by giving it a degree of autonomy and a constitution, while keeping political ties with the United States.¹⁹

Another faction that confronted Muñoz for his change of status preference was the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, led by Albizu Campos. On October 30, 1950 a group of Puerto Rican nationalists attacked the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza as part of a revolt which included the Jayuya Uprising. These acts angered Muñoz, who ordered the arrest of Albizu Campos.²⁰ The inauguration acts for the establishment of the Estado Libre Associado took place on July 25, 1952. Security for the event was tightened to avoid any incident, with invitations being issued.²¹ Muñoz Marín feared that the new status could affect the Puerto Rican culture or "Americanize" the archipelago's language.²² Trying to work with this concern, the government began promoting cultural activities, founding the Pablo Casals Festival, Music Conservatory and Puerto Rico's Institute of Culture.²² In the 1950s, most jíbaros pursued works in factories instead of agriculture, trying to avoid having to deal with the losses that hurricanes produced. A massive migration from Puerto Rico to New York continued throughout the decade. Muñoz Marín expressed that the he "did not agree with" the "continuing situation", claiming that the "battle for good life, should not have all its emphasis placed on industrialization. Part of it must be placed on agrigulture."²² However, American critics felt that he encouraged the migration to reduce overpopulation.²² Despite efforst to produce more agricultural work, the migration persisted.²² Muñoz Marín was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 6, 1962, by United States President John F. Kennedy.²³

By 1964, Muñoz Marín had been governor for sixteen years. A group of young members of the Popular Democratic Party felt that he should retire.²⁴ The group completed a proposal suggesting that he resign the position, which also included a limit of two terms for elective officials.²⁴ The group named themselves the "twenty-twos" and began running a campaign, where they would call civilians asking for support. Victoria, Muñoz Marín's younger daughter joined the group, which he didn't oppose.²⁵ The day before the party had an assembly to elect their candidates, he announced his decision of not running for another term. Muñoz Marín recommended his Secretary of State, Roberto Sánchez Vilella, for the party's candidacy. The crowd vocally protested his decision, calling for "four more years", to which he responded by saying "I am not your strength... You are your own strength."²⁵ Sánchez Vilella would go on to be elected Governor.

Retirement, death and legacy

After leaving the post of Governor, Muñoz Marín would continue his public service as a member of the Puerto Rico Senate until 1970. In 1968, Muñoz had a serious dispute with Governor Sánchez Vilella. Muñoz, who was still an influential figure inside the Popular Democratic Party, decided to deny Governor Sánchez the opportunity to run for another term in 1968. Governor Sánchez then purchased the franchise of The People's Party (Partido del Pueblo) and decided to run for governor under this new Party. Several members of the Popular Democratic Party voted for Sánchez, thus leading to the party's first electoral defeat, and the election of Luis A. Ferré. Muñoz Marín and Sánchez Vilella's friendship was severely strained after this.

After resigning his senate seat in 1970, Muñoz Marín temporally moved to Italy, where his daughter, Viviana, had established residence.²⁵ During this time, he traveled various destinations in Europe, including France, Spain and Greece. He would return to Puerto Rico two years earlier, where he began writing an autobiography.²⁶ He also promoted the gubernatorial candidacy of the senate's president Rafael Hernández Colón, the new leader of the Popular Democratic Party.

Late in his life, Muñoz Marín's health became affected. On January 5, 1976, he suffered a severe stroke, which had temporary effects in his ability to move, read and speak.²⁷ On April 30, 1980, Luis Muñoz Marín died at the age of 82, after suffering complications from a severe fever, which left him without physical strength.²⁸ His funeral became an island-wide event, dwarfing his own father's funeral in 1916, and attended by tens of thousands of followers.²⁸

Muñoz's tenure as governor saw immense changes in Puerto Rico. The island was shifting from mainly rural to an urban society; second-generation Puerto Ricans in the United States now outnumber those from the archipelago. Puerto Rico achieved degrees of autonomy it never had seen; a constitution was written. However, to some, the idealist and nationalist of Muñoz's youth had required a Faustian accommodation with the might and wealth of United States. To some, Muñoz had abandoned the youthful adherence to Puerto Rican Independence and instead cemented Puerto Rico's current commonwealth status. Others see Luis Muñoz Marín as the person who heralded the modern Puerto Rico.

Muñoz Marín was featured twice on the cover of Time magazine.²⁹³⁰ The articles called him "one of the most influential politicians in recent times, whose works will be remembered for years to come." His daughter, Victoria Muñoz Mendoza, also became involved in the politics of Puerto Rico, and in 1992 ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor. The main civil airport on the island of Puerto Rico bears his name – Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport – as well as other institutions, particularly those directed towards education.

Political succession

Luis Muñoz Marín.html

Contents

Political career

Senator

President of the Senate

Governor

Retirement, death and legacy

Political succession

See also

Notes

References

External links