Gabriel González Videla
Encyclopedia
Gabriel González Videla (November 22, 1898 – August 22, 1980) was a Chile
an politician. He was a deputy and senator in the Chilean Congress and was President of Chile
from 1946 to 1952. He also helped draft the current Chilean constitution
.
descent, the oldest son of Gabriel González Castillo and Teresa Videla Zepeda. He was the oldest in a family of eighteen children. After graduating from the Liceo de La Serena, González went to study law at the University of Chile. He graduated from the university on 1922, but that same year his father became paralytic. Because of this tragedy, González had to return to La Serena to help his family. He became a freemason in 1924.
During his college years, González entered the Radical Party
Youth, later becoming a member of the Radical Assembly of La Serena. González was involved in protests against the military government established in 1924 by Luis Altamirano
. In 1927, he made declarations against President Carlos Ibáñez and had to go into hiding. Once Ibáñez's government fell in 1931, González was able to resume his political activities and was president of the Radical Party from 1931 to 1937.
González was elected deputy for the district comprising La Serena, Coquimbo
, Elqui, Ovalle, Combarbalá, and Illapel in 1930. However, the coup led by socialist Marmaduque Grove
in 1932 dissolved Congress. González was once again elected deputy for this same area in 1933 and reelected in 1937. In 1939 he resigned because President Pedro Aguirre Cerda
named him ambassador to France
first, then to Portugal
(1940), and finally to Brazil
(1942).
as vice-president and died soon after, on November 25, 1941. Presidential elections were called for February 1, 1942. Two days before the internal primaries of the Radical Party, Gabriel González Videla, who represented the Radical Party's more leftist faction, returned to Chile to dispute the nomination to Juan Antonio Ríos
. The results were too close to call, so a tribunal of honor (electoral commission) was constituted, and Juan Antonio Ríos was finally proclaimed the candidate of the left-wings' coalition.
This Democratic Alliance
was formed by the Radical Party
, the Socialist Party
, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party and the Workers' Socialist Party. Ríos went on to win the general election with 55,95% of the votes and took office on April 2.
In 1945, González Videla was elected senator for the provinces of Tarapacá
and Antofagasta
and represented Chile at the United Nations
conference in San Francisco.
that brought Juan Antonio Ríos
to power in 1942 but was unsuccessful in this endeavor, as the Socialist Party
denounced the offer of alliance, refused to join and the popular front could not be reconstituted. In the end, González only gained a plurality with the support of his own Radical Party and the Communist Party
.
In the presidential elections
, González won 40% of the vote, defeating right-wing candidates Eduardo Cruz-Coke
and Fernando Alessandri
and socialist Bernardo Ibáñez. Since González did not reach the necessary 50%, the election went to Congress. He was duly confirmed on October 24 that year.
. The Socialists were now opposed to the Communists and aligned with the (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, the AFL-CIO), having grown closer to United States labor interests during World War II.
Once in the presidency, González Videla had a fallout with his Communist allies. They demanded more cabinet seats, which González Videla refused to grant. The Communist Party then withdrew their support for him. In response, he first expelled them from his cabinet and then banned them completely under the 1948 Law of Permanent Defense of the Democracy
, which banned communist and like-minded parties. He also broke relations with the Soviet Union
and Warsaw Pact
counties. Many key communist figures decided to flee the country, including poet Pablo Neruda
, who had decried GGV on the Senate Floor for "selling out to the United States." The communists that remained were arrested, but were not subjected to torture or execution. A pro-communist miners' strike
in Lota
was brutally suppressed. Demonstrations against what the communists called la ley maldita ("the damned law") led to the declaration of martial law, but were successfully repressed.
In 1948, González Videla also learned of a plot by some members of the Armed Forces to lead a coup against him and install Carlos Ibáñez as president. He immediately ordered an investigation and the arrest of the coup leaders, including the head of the operation, General Ramón Vergara. Ibáñez, however, was absolved of all responsibility. This plan became known as the Pig trotters' plot , because the coup leaders met in a restaurant which specialized in this Chilean dish.
After outlawing the Communists, he ruled with the support of the two right-wing parties, the conservatives
and the liberals
, which approved of his anti-communist stance. He constructed a new cabinet made up of conservatives, liberals, radicals, some socialists, and members of the small Democratic Party. The Communist Party
remained illegal until 1958.
Controversy still swirls around the reasons for this aboutface . According to González Videla and his sympathizers, the repression of the Communists was necessary to thwart their plots against his government, although no evidence has been found to substantiate that claim. According to the Communists and other critics of González Videla, he acted under pressure from the United States and out of a desire to forge closer economic and military bonds with the dominant superpower. Historians have established that the president wanted to appease the United States, that the United States encouraged a crackdown on Chilean Communists, and that the United States government appreciated González Videla's actions and thereafter expanded the scope of its loans, investments, and technical missions to Chile. The United States and Chile also agreed to a military assistance pact while González Videla was president. However, no conclusive evidence has come to light that the United States directly pushed him to act. Although González Videla feared Communist intentions and respected the wishes of the United States government, he also turned against the PCCh for other reasons. He hoped to mollify right-wing critics of his government, especially landowners, to whom he guaranteed a continuing moratorium on peasant unionization. He sought to remove any ideological justification for a military coup. He also wanted to weaken the labor movement in a time of economic uncertainties, slow growth, and rising inflation, when the PCCh was promoting strikes. González Videla's banning of the Communists coincided with his movement away from social reform in favor of the promotion of industrial growth.
Economic links with the United States, which had grown after the economic crisis of the 1930s, were strengthened after World War II; U.S. investments in Chile increased from $414,000,000 in 1945 to $540,000,000 in 1950, largely in copper production. By 1952 the United States had loaned $342,000,000 to the Chilean government. The exchange of technicians and professors helped tighten technical and cultural links between the two countries.
The presidency of González Videla saw the strong political recovery of the right. Between 1940 and 1952 Chile’s population rose from 5,000,000 to 6,350,000, with the strongest increase in urban areas, which accounted for 52 percent of the total population in 1940 and 60 percent in 1952. Production rose during this period by a rate very close to the rise in population. Social inequities were not reduced significantly, however, although some reforms were carried out, with social security extended to more Chileans, and women granted the right to vote in 1949.
In the parliamentary elections of 1949, the pro-government parties triumphed. However, the unity between right-wing parties and radicals and socialists did not last long. Radicals were unhappy with the economic policies of the right-wing Finance Minister, Jorge Alessandri
, no matter how successful they were in controlling inflation. When a protest by government employees broke out in 1950, the radicals immediately declared their support for the protesters' demands. The right-wingers responded by resigning from González's cabinet.
By losing the liberal and conservative support, González lost the pro-government majority in Congress. He was of course unable to achieve much thereafter, but he did manage to make significant improvements on women's rights. González's cabinet had the first woman minister, he appointed the first woman ambassador, and created the Oficina de la Mujer.
During his presidency he became the first chief of state of any nation to visit Antarctica. The Chilean Gonzalez Videla Antarctic Base
is named after him.
. González undertook a significant role in the opposition to Allende and supported Augusto Pinochet
's 1973 coup which deposed Allende.
González was vice-president of the Council of State which drafted a new Constitution of Chile during Pinochet's presidency. When his work there was finished, González completely retired from politics and died of cardiac arrest on August 22, 1980 in Santiago
.
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an politician. He was a deputy and senator in the Chilean Congress and was President of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
from 1946 to 1952. He also helped draft the current Chilean constitution
Constitution of Chile
In its temporary dispositions, the document ordered the transition from the former military government, with Augusto Pinochet as President of the Republic, and the Legislative Power of the Military Junta , to a civil one, with a time frame of eight...
.
Early life
González was born on the coastal city of La Serena on November 22, 1898; he was of SpanishSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
descent, the oldest son of Gabriel González Castillo and Teresa Videla Zepeda. He was the oldest in a family of eighteen children. After graduating from the Liceo de La Serena, González went to study law at the University of Chile. He graduated from the university on 1922, but that same year his father became paralytic. Because of this tragedy, González had to return to La Serena to help his family. He became a freemason in 1924.
During his college years, González entered the Radical Party
Radical Party (Chile)
The Radical Party of Chile was a Chilean political party. It was formed in 1863 by a split in the Liberal Party. Not coincidently, it was formed shortly after the organization of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and it has maintained a close relationship with Chilean Freemasonry throughout its life...
Youth, later becoming a member of the Radical Assembly of La Serena. González was involved in protests against the military government established in 1924 by Luis Altamirano
Luis Altamirano
Division General Luis Altamirano Talavera was a Chilean military officer, minister, Vice President of the Republic and finally President of the Government Junta of Chile between 1924 and 1925....
. In 1927, he made declarations against President Carlos Ibáñez and had to go into hiding. Once Ibáñez's government fell in 1931, González was able to resume his political activities and was president of the Radical Party from 1931 to 1937.
González was elected deputy for the district comprising La Serena, Coquimbo
Coquimbo
Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo lies in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than 400,000 inhabitants. The commune spans an area around the...
, Elqui, Ovalle, Combarbalá, and Illapel in 1930. However, the coup led by socialist Marmaduque Grove
Marmaduque Grove
Marmaduque Grove Vallejo was a Chilean Air Force officer, political figure and member of the Government Junta of the Socialist Republic of Chile in 1932.-Early life:...
in 1932 dissolved Congress. González was once again elected deputy for this same area in 1933 and reelected in 1937. In 1939 he resigned because President Pedro Aguirre Cerda
Pedro Aguirre Cerda
Pedro Aguirre Cerda was a Chilean political figure. A member of the Radical Party, he was chosen as the Popular Front's candidate for the 1938 presidential election, and was triumphally elected. He governed Chile until his death in 1941...
named him ambassador to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
first, then to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
(1940), and finally to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(1942).
1942 presidential campaign
In 1941, due to his rapidly escalating illness, President Aguirre Cerda appointed his minister of the Interior, Jerónimo MéndezJerónimo Méndez
Jerónimo Méndez Arancibia was a Chilean politician who served as provisional president.He was born in Chañaral, where he completed his secondary studies. In 1914 he graduated as an MD from the Universidad de Chile. President Pedro Aguirre Cerda appointed him Minister of the Interior...
as vice-president and died soon after, on November 25, 1941. Presidential elections were called for February 1, 1942. Two days before the internal primaries of the Radical Party, Gabriel González Videla, who represented the Radical Party's more leftist faction, returned to Chile to dispute the nomination to Juan Antonio Ríos
Juan Antonio Ríos
Juan Antonio Ríos Morales was a Chilean political figure, and President of Chile from 1942 to 1946, during the height of World War II. He died in office.-Early life:...
. The results were too close to call, so a tribunal of honor (electoral commission) was constituted, and Juan Antonio Ríos was finally proclaimed the candidate of the left-wings' coalition.
This Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Chile)
The Democratic Alliance of Chile was a coalition of left-wing parties from 1941 to 1946, which succeeded to the Popular Front headed by Pedro Aguirre Cerda's government...
was formed by the Radical Party
Radical Party (Chile)
The Radical Party of Chile was a Chilean political party. It was formed in 1863 by a split in the Liberal Party. Not coincidently, it was formed shortly after the organization of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and it has maintained a close relationship with Chilean Freemasonry throughout its life...
, the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party and the Workers' Socialist Party. Ríos went on to win the general election with 55,95% of the votes and took office on April 2.
In 1945, González Videla was elected senator for the provinces of Tarapacá
Tarapacá
Tarapacá may refer to:*Tarapacá Province, Chile, a former province, now divided into**Tarapacá Region**Arica-Parinacota Region*Tarapacá Department , a former department of Peru...
and Antofagasta
Antofagasta
Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...
and represented Chile at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
conference in San Francisco.
1946 presidential campaign
González Videla finally won the Radical Party primaries in 1946. He attempted to revive the Democratic AllianceDemocratic Alliance (Chile)
The Democratic Alliance of Chile was a coalition of left-wing parties from 1941 to 1946, which succeeded to the Popular Front headed by Pedro Aguirre Cerda's government...
that brought Juan Antonio Ríos
Juan Antonio Ríos
Juan Antonio Ríos Morales was a Chilean political figure, and President of Chile from 1942 to 1946, during the height of World War II. He died in office.-Early life:...
to power in 1942 but was unsuccessful in this endeavor, as the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
denounced the offer of alliance, refused to join and the popular front could not be reconstituted. In the end, González only gained a plurality with the support of his own Radical Party and the Communist Party
Communist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
.
In the presidential elections
Chilean presidential election, 1946
A presidential election was held in Chile on September 4, 1946 to elect the successor to Juan Antonio Ríos, who died in office in June of that year.-Popular vote:Source: -Congressional election:Source:...
, González won 40% of the vote, defeating right-wing candidates Eduardo Cruz-Coke
Eduardo Cruz-Coke
Eduardo Cruz-Coke Lassabe was a Chilean political figure, the conservative candidate in Chile's 1946 presidential election and the principal creator of the Chilean health system....
and Fernando Alessandri
Fernando Alessandri
Fernando Alessandri Rodríguez was a Chilean political figure, candidate of the centre-right in Chile's 1946 presidential election...
and socialist Bernardo Ibáñez. Since González did not reach the necessary 50%, the election went to Congress. He was duly confirmed on October 24 that year.
Presidency
Gabriel González Videla’s first cabinets, between 1946 and 1948, included Communist ministers; but the international Cold War and Chile’s internal troubles soon pushed González Videla toward the right. Chile had quickly became enmeshed in the cold war, as Moscow and especially Washington meddled in its affairs. That friction resulted in the splitting of the CTCh (the Worker's union) in 1946 into Communist and Socialist branches and then the outlawing of the Communist PartyCommunist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
. The Socialists were now opposed to the Communists and aligned with the (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, the AFL-CIO), having grown closer to United States labor interests during World War II.
Once in the presidency, González Videla had a fallout with his Communist allies. They demanded more cabinet seats, which González Videla refused to grant. The Communist Party then withdrew their support for him. In response, he first expelled them from his cabinet and then banned them completely under the 1948 Law of Permanent Defense of the Democracy
Law of Permanent Defense of the Democracy
Under the pressure of the United States of America, Chilean President Gabriel González Videla enacted a Ley de Defensa Permanente de la Democracia, also known as Cursed Law, Ley Maldita which outlawed the Communist Party of Chile and banned 26,650 persons from the electoral lists.The law banned the...
, which banned communist and like-minded parties. He also broke relations with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
counties. Many key communist figures decided to flee the country, including poet Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, who had decried GGV on the Senate Floor for "selling out to the United States." The communists that remained were arrested, but were not subjected to torture or execution. A pro-communist miners' strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in Lota
Lota, Chile
Lota is a city and commune located in the center of the Chile on the Gulf of Arauco. It lies within the Concepción Province of the Biobío Region.-History:...
was brutally suppressed. Demonstrations against what the communists called la ley maldita ("the damned law") led to the declaration of martial law, but were successfully repressed.
In 1948, González Videla also learned of a plot by some members of the Armed Forces to lead a coup against him and install Carlos Ibáñez as president. He immediately ordered an investigation and the arrest of the coup leaders, including the head of the operation, General Ramón Vergara. Ibáñez, however, was absolved of all responsibility. This plan became known as the Pig trotters' plot , because the coup leaders met in a restaurant which specialized in this Chilean dish.
After outlawing the Communists, he ruled with the support of the two right-wing parties, the conservatives
Conservative Party (Chile)
The Conservative Party of Chile was one of the principal Chilean political parties since its foundation in 1836 until 1949, when it broke apart. In 1953 it reformed as the United Conservative Party and in 1966 joined with the Liberal Party to form the National Party...
and the liberals
Liberal Party (Chile)
The Liberal Party of Chile was a Chilean political party created by a faction of pipiolos in 1849. After the conservative victory in the Chilean Civil War of 1829 the liberals became the principal opposition party to the Conservative Party...
, which approved of his anti-communist stance. He constructed a new cabinet made up of conservatives, liberals, radicals, some socialists, and members of the small Democratic Party. The Communist Party
Communist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
remained illegal until 1958.
Controversy still swirls around the reasons for this aboutface . According to González Videla and his sympathizers, the repression of the Communists was necessary to thwart their plots against his government, although no evidence has been found to substantiate that claim. According to the Communists and other critics of González Videla, he acted under pressure from the United States and out of a desire to forge closer economic and military bonds with the dominant superpower. Historians have established that the president wanted to appease the United States, that the United States encouraged a crackdown on Chilean Communists, and that the United States government appreciated González Videla's actions and thereafter expanded the scope of its loans, investments, and technical missions to Chile. The United States and Chile also agreed to a military assistance pact while González Videla was president. However, no conclusive evidence has come to light that the United States directly pushed him to act. Although González Videla feared Communist intentions and respected the wishes of the United States government, he also turned against the PCCh for other reasons. He hoped to mollify right-wing critics of his government, especially landowners, to whom he guaranteed a continuing moratorium on peasant unionization. He sought to remove any ideological justification for a military coup. He also wanted to weaken the labor movement in a time of economic uncertainties, slow growth, and rising inflation, when the PCCh was promoting strikes. González Videla's banning of the Communists coincided with his movement away from social reform in favor of the promotion of industrial growth.
Economic links with the United States, which had grown after the economic crisis of the 1930s, were strengthened after World War II; U.S. investments in Chile increased from $414,000,000 in 1945 to $540,000,000 in 1950, largely in copper production. By 1952 the United States had loaned $342,000,000 to the Chilean government. The exchange of technicians and professors helped tighten technical and cultural links between the two countries.
The presidency of González Videla saw the strong political recovery of the right. Between 1940 and 1952 Chile’s population rose from 5,000,000 to 6,350,000, with the strongest increase in urban areas, which accounted for 52 percent of the total population in 1940 and 60 percent in 1952. Production rose during this period by a rate very close to the rise in population. Social inequities were not reduced significantly, however, although some reforms were carried out, with social security extended to more Chileans, and women granted the right to vote in 1949.
In the parliamentary elections of 1949, the pro-government parties triumphed. However, the unity between right-wing parties and radicals and socialists did not last long. Radicals were unhappy with the economic policies of the right-wing Finance Minister, Jorge Alessandri
Jorge Alessandri
Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970...
, no matter how successful they were in controlling inflation. When a protest by government employees broke out in 1950, the radicals immediately declared their support for the protesters' demands. The right-wingers responded by resigning from González's cabinet.
By losing the liberal and conservative support, González lost the pro-government majority in Congress. He was of course unable to achieve much thereafter, but he did manage to make significant improvements on women's rights. González's cabinet had the first woman minister, he appointed the first woman ambassador, and created the Oficina de la Mujer.
During his presidency he became the first chief of state of any nation to visit Antarctica. The Chilean Gonzalez Videla Antarctic Base
González Videla Antarctic Base
González Videla Base, on the Antarctic mainland's Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay, is named after Chilean President Gabriel González Videla, who in the 1940s became the first chief of state of any nation to visit Antarctica. The station was active from 1951-58, and was reopened briefly in the early...
is named after him.
Retirement and death
After his term ended in 1952, his name was mentioned in the party primaries in 1958, though he announced he would not seek the presidency. In 1964, he actively campaigned for radical presidential candidate Julio Durán, who was also anti-communist. González's influence in a now more left-leaning Radical Party was decreasing, and in 1971 he resigned from the party, angered by its support for socialist Salvador AllendeSalvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
. González undertook a significant role in the opposition to Allende and supported Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
's 1973 coup which deposed Allende.
González was vice-president of the Council of State which drafted a new Constitution of Chile during Pinochet's presidency. When his work there was finished, González completely retired from politics and died of cardiac arrest on August 22, 1980 in Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
.