Roberto Sánchez Vilella
Encyclopedia
Roberto Sánchez Vilella (February 19, 1913 – March 24, 1997) was the second Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Governor of Puerto Rico
The Governor of Puerto Rico is the Head of Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Since 1948, the Governor has been elected by the people of Puerto Rico...

 from 1965 to 1969. He was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Mayagüez is the eighth-largest municipality of Puerto Rico. Originally founded as "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria" it is also known as "La Sultana del Oeste" , "Ciudad de las Aguas Puras" , or "Ciudad del Mangó"...

. Sánchez Vilella successfully ran for governor on the 1964 elections for the PPD
Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico is a political party that supports Puerto Rico's right to self-determination and sovereignty, through the enhancement of Puerto Rico's current status as a commonwealth....

 (Partido Popular Democrático, or Popular Democratic Party), after Luis Muñoz Marín
Luis Muñoz Marín
Don José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico," he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader...

, the then party leader, decided to step down as Governor after four terms in office.

Education

Sánchez attended high school in Santurce
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Santurce is a district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.-Summary:Santurce is one of the top ten most populated areas of the island holding Miramar, Loíza, Isla Grande, Barrio Obrero, and Condado as main cultural hot spots for art, music, cuisine, fashion, hotels, technology, multimedia, film, textile and...

. After graduation, he attended Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

 where he graduated with a degree in engineering in 1934. He then was a professor for a short time at the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...

.

Governor

After a long and distinguished career as city manager of the city of San Juan, Secretary of Public Works and as the first Secretary of State, Sánchez Vilella was handpicked by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín
Luis Muñoz Marín
Don José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico," he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader...

 to run as the PPD's candidate for Governor in 1964. Sánchez won the election by a comfortable margin, becoming the second democratically elected Governor of the island.

During his tenure, Sánchez tried to change his party's membership, urging a younger generation to rise in the party's organization. It could be argued that Sánchez was influenced by the youth movement that the island was experiencing countrywide during the 1960s, a period where many social areas in Puerto Rico, including television, music and sports, were being introduced to fresh, younger personalities.

Sánchez had public marital problems during his term; he divorced his wife, Conchita Dapena
Conchita Dapena
Conchita Dapena was the wife of former Governor of Puerto Rico Roberto Sánchez Vilella and served as First Lady from 1965 until their divorce in 1966....

, in 1967 and married one of his close assistants, Jeannette Ramos Buonomo, the daughter of the then Speaker of the House, Ernesto Ramos Antonini
Ernesto Ramos Antonini
Ernesto Ramos Antonini was the President of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and co-founder of the Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico .-Early years:...

. This marked the first time a Governor married while holding the office. His marital problems were brought to center stage during the 1968 gubernatorial campaign, given the still conservative Puerto Rican moral values of the time, including the stigmatization of divorce.

His goals of revitalization and change led to a public break with former governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, who was still party leader. Because of this, the PPD nominated Luis Negrón López
Luis Negrón López
Luis Negrón López was a politician from Puerto Rico. Negrón was among the founding members of the Popular Democratic Party and served as Senator and as candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico in the elections of 1968....

 for Governor in the elections of 1968. Sánchez Vilella left the PPD and founded his own party, the short-lived Partido del Pueblo (The People's Party). While his new party lost in the 1968 elections, it caused a considerable percentage of PPD voters to vote for him, indirectly helping Luis A. Ferré
Luis A. Ferré
Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party which advocates for Puerto Rico...

 and his New Progressive Party
New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
The New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico is a political party that advocates for Puerto Rico's admission to the United States of America as the 51st state...

 to an upset win that year. It did not matter that Ferré had made a similar split with his Partido Estadista Republicano (Statehood Republican Party) due to that party's decision not to support the statehood status option in the 1967 Puerto Rican status plebiscite (Ferré created the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
The New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico is a political party that advocates for Puerto Rico's admission to the United States of America as the 51st state...

 as a consequence). There is even speculation that United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 officials, scorned by Sánchez as long-time meddlers in Puerto Rican affairs (in a by-now famous episode, Sánchez had thrashed a hotline
Hotline
In telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...

 telephone that linked the governor's office and the local Navy command) used Navy intelligence resources to prepare a smear campaign against Sánchez and helped Ferré with logistics and money for his own gubernatorial campaign. Nevertheless, Sánchez was finally blamed for the first loss in the history of the PPD. His relationship with former governor Muñoz Marín was severely strained, but the two friends mended their differences in the late 1970s.

In 1972, Sánchez made his third and last run for elective office when he obtained over 100,000 votes in his bid to become a representative-at-large, but lost when the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico is the highest court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority within Puerto Rico to interpret and decide questions of Commonwealth law. As the highest body of the judicial branch of the Puerto Rican government, it is analogous to one of the...

 certified the election of Puerto Rican Independence Party
Puerto Rican Independence Party
The Puerto Rican Independence Party is a Puerto Rican political party that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from United States suzerainty....

 (PIP) candidate Luis Angel Torres, who polled fewer than 150 votes, based on its interpretation of the Puerto Rico Constitution
Constitution of Puerto Rico
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the controlling government document of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is composed of nine articles detailing the structure of the government as well as the function of several of its institutions. The document also contains an extensive...

's rules regarding the election of at-large legislative candidates.

Retirement, death and legacy

After leaving La Fortaleza
La Fortaleza
La Fortaleza is the current official residence of the Governor of Puerto Rico. It was built between 1533 and 1540 to defend the harbor of San Juan. The structure is also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina . It is the oldest executive mansion in the New World...

 and his unsuccessful House bid in 1972, Sánchez Vilella lived a relatively quiet life, serving as a professor at the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...

's School of Public Administration (which after his death in 1997, at the age of 84, was named after him) and as a radio commentator. The renowned Puerto Rican sculptor Tomas Batista
Tomás Batista
Tomás Batista is considered by many to be Puerto Rico's greatest sculptor. He is the creator of some of Puerto Rico's most famous monuments.-Early years:...

 created a bust in his honor.

The legacy of Sánchez Vilella, who was initially judged rather harshly by historians, has been perceived in a better light recently. His term was overshadowed by the legacy of Muñoz, his predecessor, and the PDP's loss in the 1968 elections is still blamed on him. However, he is perceived by many political commentators to have led the most efficient public administration of all Puerto Rican-born governors, and many long for Sánchez's frankness and political integrity in light of the deteriorating political climate that has developed after he left office. As the perception of his legacy improves, he is now being honored more frequently. The Government's largest building complex at Minillas in Santurce, has now been named after him, and Senate President Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth D. McClintock-Hernández is the current Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the...

 placed a bust of Sánchez Vilella in 2007 at the Capitol Building's Governors' Hall, righting a decades-long omission.

His son Roberto Sánchez Ramos
Roberto Sánchez Ramos
Roberto Sanchez Ramos is the former Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico, appointed in 2005 by Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Before becoming Secretary of Justice, Sanchez Ramos served as Solicitor General of Puerto Rico. He is the son of former Governor of Puerto Rico Roberto Sánchez Vilella...

 was appointed by Governor Sila Calderón as Solicitor General and was narrowly confirmed by a coalition of PDP and Pedro Rosselló loyalists in the opposition-led Puerto Rico Senate as Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico in 2005, after being appointed by Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the eighth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law,...

, whom he served throughout his four-year term.

Honors

In 1997, Governor Pedro Rossello
Pedro Rosselló
Pedro Juan Rosselló González, M.D., , is a Puerto Rican physician and politician who served as the sixth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001...

 signed into law a bill introduced by then senator Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth D. McClintock-Hernández is the current Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the...

 converting a major highway built by Sánchez Vilella between Ponce and Mayagüez into the "Roberto Sánchez Vilella Expressway", honoring not only his service as Governor but as Secretary of Public Works.

A new Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 highway, PR-66, named in honor of Roberto Sánchez Vilella was inaugurated on March 31, 2006.

The University of Puerto Rico's School of Public Administration
Roberto Sánchez Vilella School of Public Administration
The Roberto Sánchez Vilella School of Public Administration is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only public policy school in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States....

, where he served as a professor, bears his name.


See also

  • List of famous Puerto Ricans – Governors
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