Roberto María Ortiz

Roberto María Ortiz (full name Jaime Gerardo Roberto Marcelino Maria Ortiz Lizardi) (born September 24, 1886 in Buenos Aires , † July 15, 1942 ) was Argentine President from February 20, 1938 to June 27, 1942.

As a student at the University of Buenos Aires, he participated in an unsuccessful coup in 1905. In 1909 he became a lawyer. He joined the Unión Cívica Radical and was elected to the Argentine National Congress in 1920 . From 1925 to 1928 he was Minister of Labor. He supported the right-wing coup of 1930 and served as Treasury Secretary from 1935 to 1937.

In the 1937 presidential election campaign he was the ruling party's candidate and won, although the opposition accused him of electoral fraud - such practices were notorious in Argentina in the 1930s (“década infame” - German: infamous decade). Ortiz has not denied these accusations, but when he was in office he sought to strengthen democracy in Argentine politics. He supported the Allies in World War II , but did not declare war on Germany because of the opposition in the army . Ortiz became seriously ill with diabetes in 1940, so that he was replaced in August 1940 by the arch-conservative Vice President Ramón Castillo , who sympathized with Germany and also restored the old electoral fraud policy.

literature

Fernando Artavia: Ortiz, Roberto Marcelino. In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Hostility to Jews in the past and present . Vol. 2/2: People L – Z. De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-24072-0 , p. 605.

Web links

predecessor	Office	successor
Agustin Pedro Justo	President of Argentina 1938–1942	Ramón Castillo

personal data
SURNAME	Ortiz, Roberto María
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Argentine President
DATE OF BIRTH	September 24, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH	Buenos Aires
DATE OF DEATH	July 15, 1942