Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union who served as President of Argentina from 1916 to 1922 and again from 1928 until his overthrow in 1930. He was the first president elected democratically by means of the secret ballot and mandatory male suffrage established by the Sáenz Peña Law of 1912. His activism was the prime impetus behind the passage of that law in Argentina.
Known as "the father of the poor", Yrigoyen presided over a rise in the standard of living of Argentina's working class together with the passage of a number of progressive social reforms, including improvements in factory conditions, regulation of working hours, compulsory pensions, and the introduction of a universally accessible public education system. Yrigoyen was the first nationalist president, convinced that the country had to manage its own currency and, above all, should have control of its transportation, energy and oil exploitation networks.
Between the 1916 general election and the 1930 coup d'état, political polarization was on the rise. Personalist radicalism was presented as the "authentic expression of the nation and the people" against the "oligarchic and conservative regime". For the ruling party, the will of the majorities prevailed over the division of powers. The opposition, on the other hand, accused the Executive Branch of being arrogant and demanded greater participation from Congress, especially in matters such as the contentious federal interventions.
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen was born on 12 July 1852, a few months after the Battle of Caseros. He was baptized four years later, on 19 October 1856 in the church of Nuestra Señora de Piedad.
His father, Martín Yrigoyen Dodagaray, was a Basque-French immigrant who in 1847 married Marcelina Alén Ponce, daughter of Leandro Antonio Alén (who was also the father of Leandro N. Alem), a member of the Mazorca during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas who would be shot and hanged in the Plaza de Mayo.
According to researcher Roberto Etchepareborda, his original last name – as opposed to Bernardo de Irigoyen – was Hirigoyen, Hirigoien in Standard Basque, which means "city of the high". In the French Basque country, the "h" is pronounced as it is in English, while in the Spanish Basque country, it is not pronounced, which is why the surname Hirigoyen probably has its origin in France, while its variants (Yrigoyen and Irigoyen) have their origins in Spain.
Formerly, Spanish orthography used ⟨Y⟩ for uppercase ⟨I⟩.
The radical leader used "Yrigoyen" and "Irigoyen" interchangeably. The later preference for "Yrigoyen" was a political tool used in the 1920s. Gabriel del Mazo, leader of the Fuerza de Orientación Radical de la Joven Argentina (FORJA), recommended he use "Yrigoyen" as opposed to "Irigoyen", which Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear's sectors used.
During his youth, Yrigoyen lived in a house in the neighborhood of Balvanera and had four siblings: Roque, Martín, Amalia, and Marcelina. In 1861, at the age of nine, he entered the San José of Buenos Aires School, run by the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram, although he continued his studies at the School of South America, where his uncle Leandro N. Alem was a professor of philosophy. Yrigoyen was not a standout student, though he did demonstrate an introspective personality. Early on, he had an inclination towards studying to be a priest, though he soon began to study law instead. For some time, Yrigoyen and Alem shared a household, and the latter tried to introduce his nephew to Freemasonry.
At fifteen years old, Yrigoyen paused his studies to help his father, who had acquired a fleet of trolleys to work in the port. He worked for a short time in a store and also had a job in the trolley. At his young age, he had already had extensive though diverse work experience.
In 1867, he worked at a judicial office that Leandro Alem and Aristóbulo del Valle shared.
When he finished his secondary education in 1869, he began his political life as a member, along with his uncle Leandro N. Alem, of the Autonomist Party, led by Adolfo Alsina, a party with a popular base that faced off against the National Party of Bartolomé Mitre. In his participation in the Electoral Club, he demanded free suffrage, division of rural property, and reform of the judicial power, among other measures.
In 1870, he entered public administration as a scribe for the General Accounts of the Office of Balances and Information, though he did not remain at this job for very long. Two years later, when Alem was elected provincial deputy, Yrigoyen, twenty years old, was named Police Commissioner of Balvanera thanks to the influence of his uncle, and placed in charge of Section 14. Meanwhile, he continued his studies in law and in March 1874 finished his fourth year, while also participating in the revolution that took place that year led by Bartolomé Mitre.
In 1877, Alem, Artistóbulo del Valle, and Yrigoyen, in protest of Adolfo Alsina's attitude towards Mitre's party, formed the Republican Party, which proposed del Valle as a candidate and positioned itself in opposition to any agreements between leaders of Alsina's party and Mitre's group. The internal conflict ended with the expulsion of Yrigoyen from his police duties in 1877. In 1878, at 25 years old, he was elected Provincial Deputy for the Republican Party and sat on the Budget Committee, but his term ended in 1880 as a result of the Federalization of Buenos Aires. That year he was named general administrator of Stamps and Patents, though he did not remain long in that position either. Upon the federalization of Buenos Aires and the ascent of Julio A. Roca to the presidency, Alem resigned from his position as Deputy in protest against the federalization and abandoned politics, allowing Yrigoyen, who was not opposed to the new law, to be elected Deputy to the National Congress. This was the first discrepancy that emerged between the two.
In 1878, he ended his studies, having never completed his thesis. Three years later, a new law was passed that eliminated the requirement for a thesis to become a lawyer in such a way that Yrigoyen was able to graduate.
He began to work as a professor of Argentina history, civic instruction, and philosophy in 1880 at the Normal School for Teachers, though he was first named President of the Balvanera School Council by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, then president of the National Council of Education. He taught these subjects for around twenty-four years, until he was expelled by President Manuel Quintana as a result of the Revolution of 1905, led by Yrigoyen. Despite the unfavorable economic situation, he donated his salary of 150 pesos to the Children's Hospital and the Asylum for Defenseless Children. Testimonies from the time indicate that he was not a good professor, but his method is of particular interest: he gave his own students responsibility over the classes while he acted as a moderator and observer.
By 1882, Yrigoyen had finished his classes in theory at the University of Buenos Aires Law School. At this time, through the Spanish Krausists Julián Sanz del Río and Francisco Giner de los Ríos, he discovered the works of philosopher Karl Krause, who influenced his thinking considerably.
During the 1880s, he began a series of rural projects that would give him great wealth. He purchased and rented estancias in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and San Luis, and fattened cattle to sell them to refrigeration businesses. These activities not only earned him great wealth, but also landholdings of his own. In total he owned almost 25 leagues of land. He was the owner of Estancia El Trigo, near Las Flores, one of the best shepherding lands in the country; Seña de Anchorena in the province of San Luis; and El Quemado, near General Alvear. Thanks to his business experience, Yrigoyen had direct contact with the people of the countryside – both creoles and gringos – and he became familiar with their problems and sentiments. In a few years, Yrigoyen had accumulated a considerable fortune, which was to help him achieve his political aspirations.