Federico Fernández de Monjardín (14 December 1895 – 3 April 1970) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

politician, journalist and historian. He was a member of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

throughout most of his career, later joining the faction that split into the

Intransigent Radical Civic Union The Intransigent Radical Civic Union (, UCRI) was a political party of Argentina. The UCRI developed from the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) in 1956, following a split at the party's convention in Tucumán between the UCR's progressive factio ...

in the aftermath of the 1955 coup d'état. Fernández de Monjardín served as mayor of

Luján Partido Luján Partido is a partido in the northeastern part of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The provincial subdivision has a population of about 94,000 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Luján, which is from Buenos Aires ...

for two consecutive terms from 1926 to 1930. He was later elected to the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

in 1948, serving until the coup d'état, and was re-elected in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

. During his second term as deputy, he was elected by his peers as President of the Chamber.

Early life

Fernández de Monjardín was born on 14 December 1895 in

La Boca, Buenos Aires La Boca (; "the Mouth", probably of the Matanza River) is a neighborhood (''barrio'') of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Its location near the Port of Buenos Aires meant the neighbourhood became a melting pot of different cultures durin ...

. His parents were Asturian wine merchants who returned to Spain when Federico was six years old. In

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

, he graduated as a '' bachiller'' at the Instituto Jovellanos, dependent on the

University of Oviedo The University of Oviedo (, Asturian: ''Universidá d'Uviéu'') is a public university in Asturias (Spain). It is the only university in the region. It has three campus and research centres, located in Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres. History Th ...

.Buonocore, p. 28. When he turned 18, Federico returned to Buenos Aires on his own and became employed at a store on

Avenida Callao Callao Avenue () is one of the principal thoroughfares in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Overview Mayor Torcuato de Alvear, inspired by the urban redevelopment works in Paris at the direction of Baron Haussmann, drew up master plans for major boul ...

and

Avenida Corrientes Avenida Corrientes () is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentina, Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. Over a central stretch it is popularly known as "The Street that Never Sleeps" (''"La calle que nunca duerme"'') widely considered B ...

owned by a Spanish man. After visiting Luján, he took a liking to the city and decided to settle there, taking employment at the ''El Sol'' store, owned by Emilio Gibaja, one of the richest men in the city.

Political career

Fernández de Monjardín became a member of the

(UCR) during his youth. He was elected as mayor of

in 1926, later being re-elected for a second two-year term in 1928. As mayor, he edited the first issue of a local ''boletín'' listing all income and spending by the municipal government. Upon the end of his second term, in 1930, he was accused of embezzlement of public funds by the opposition, although the public inquiry held against him ruled him to be innocent of all charges. In the 1948 legislative election, Fernández de Monjardín ran for a seat in the National Chamber of Deputies on the UCR list in

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

; he was elected with 200,882 individual votes. He did not run for re-election in the 1954 election. After the 1955 coup d'état, which saw the overthrow of President

Juan Domingo Perón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

, Fernández de Monjardín joined the dissident

(UCRI) which backed the presidential candidacy of

Arturo Frondizi Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (Paso de los Libres, October 28, 1908 – Buenos Aires, April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher, statesman, and politician. He was elected president of Argentina and governed from May ...

in the 1958 general election. In the same election, Fernández de Monjardín was once again elected to the Chamber of Deputies in Buenos Aires, and upon taking office he was elected by his peers as President of the Chamber. As deputy, he sponsored laws to establish the Escuela de Comercio and to build a new headquarters for the Correo Argentino in Luján. Upon completing his term, he did not seek re-election and instead returned to Luján. The 1962 coup d'état took place four months after that. In Luján, he is particularly remembered for his efforts to register mundane day-to-day events in the city in his Luján Retrospectivo column, published periodically in the local ''El Civismo'' newspaper starting in 1952 and until his death. His full works were compiled and re-issued in 2017. He died on 3 April 1970 in Luján. He was survived by his two children, Raúl and Ruth, the latter of whom would go on to have a career in politics as well, serving as a National Deputy and as Secretary of Childhood Affairs during the dictatorships of Alejandro Lanusse and the

National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process ( PRN; often simply , "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as the ("last military junta"), ("last military dictatorship") ...

References

Bibliography

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez De Monjardin, Federico 1895 births 1970 deaths Argentine people of Asturian descent Politicians from Buenos Aires Mayors of Luján, Buenos Aires Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Members of the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies Presidents of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies Radical Civic Union politicians 20th-century Argentine politicians