Hipólito Irigoyen

Hipólito Irigoyen (1852-1933), president of Argentina (1916-22 and 1928-30), born in Buenos Aires. A schoolteacher before turning to politics, Irigoyen in 1896 became the leader of the Radical Party, putting his personal stamp on it for the next four decades. He fought electoral corruption by boycotting elections until after reforms were carried out in 1912. Four years later he was elected president. Most popular with the middle class, which for the first time felt it was part of the political process, Irigoyen kept Argentina out of World War I, allowing it to profit from the high beef prices on the world market. He was elected president by a large margin in 1928, but his inability to deal with the crisis brought on by the worldwide depression caused his removal from office by an army coup in 1930.