His Excellency Jorge Alessandri |
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27th President of Chile | |
In office 3 November 1958 – 3 November 1964 |
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Preceded by | Carlos Ibáñez |
Succeeded by | Eduardo Frei Montalva |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 2 August 1947 – 7 February 1950 |
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President | Gabriel González Videla |
Preceded by | Germán Picó Cañas |
Succeeded by | Arturo Maschke |
Senator of the Republic | |
In office 15 May 1957 – 3 November 1958 |
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Constituency | Santiago |
Deputy of the Republic | |
In office 15 May 1926 – 15 May 1930 |
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Constituency | Santiago |
Personal details | |
Born |
Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez May 19, 1896 Santiago, Chile |
Died | August 31, 1986 Santiago, Chile |
(aged 90)
Resting place |
Cementerio General de Santiago Santiago, Chile |
Political party | Independent |
Parents | Arturo Alessandri and Rosa Rodríguez |
Alma mater | University of Chile |
Profession | Civil engineer, entrepreneur, politician |
Signature |
Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez (19 May 1896 – 31 August 1986) was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970 being defeated by Salvador Allende. He was the son of Arturo Alessandri, who was president from 1920 to 1925 and again from 1932 to 1938.
Born in Santiago, Alessandri studied at the University of Chile in Santiago and after graduating in 1919 worked there as a lecturer. After the fall of the parliamentary republic, he lived in European exile with his parents from 1924–1925, but returned to his native land where he was elected to parliament as an independent from a Santiago constituency in 1926.
He withdrew from public life in 1932 to concentrate on business interests, becoming president of the mortgage bank, Caja de Crédito Hipotecario until 1938 and running the Paper and Carton Manufacturing Company. From 1944 to 1947, he was chairman of the Chilean employers' confederation.
The early years of the Presidency of Gabriel González were marked by serious unrest between left and right-wing supporters, and on 2 August 1947 González named a cabinet of military officers and independents in a supposed attempt to depoliticise the situation. Alessandri was named Minister of Finance, where he reordered the system of administration and pursued a rigorous programme of austerity.
By 1950, he had restored order to the public finances and controlled inflation. However, his freezes of public sector remuneration gradually led to greater industrial unrest. Public sector workers came out on strike at the end of January 1950, which rapidly turned into a broad opposition against the government's economic policies. Along with the rest of the cabinet, Alessandri resigned on 3 February, and returned to his role as president of the employers' confederation.