Historica Wiki
Advertisement
Arturo Umberto Illia

Arturo Umberto Illia (4 August 1900-18 January 1983) was President of Argentina from 12 October 1963 to 28 June 1966, succeeding Jose Maria Guido and preceding Juan Carlos Ongania. He was a Radical Civic Union leader.

Biography[]

Arturo Umberto Illia Francesconi was born in Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina on 4 August 1900 to a family of Italian immigrants from Lombardy. He supported the university reform movement and became a physician in 1927, and he worked in Cruz del Eje from 1929 to 1963, apart from 1940 to 1943, during which time he served as Vice-Governor of Cordoba Province. In 1963, he was elected President as a Radical Civic Union leader, and he was supported by the moderate faction of the Argentine military. He eliminated all restrictions on Peronism, a major affront to the conservative faction of the military, and he also made discrimination and racial violence felony crimes. He also increased education spending, oil exploration, decreased public debt, and pushed for industrialization, expanding the national GDP. In the 1965 general election, the Peronists made large gains, leading to the military overthrowing Illia in a coup on 28 June 1966. Illia died in Cordoba in 1983.

Advertisement