Arturo Frondizi

Who was Arturo Frondizi?

Arturo Frondizi Ercoli, GCMG was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union, which he led until 1986. Under his program of "Developmentalism", he encouraged increased foreign investment in heavy industry, including motor vehicle production; made the country self-sufficient in oil production, and increased public spending for loans to encourage business, and to develop infrastructure for electrical power.

He was a law professor who became active in left-wing politics as a young man, joining the Radical Civic Union. He was first elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 1946. In the 1950s he founded the Intransigent Radical Civic Union. He was elected following the military coup d'etat that overthrew Juan Perón, and was deposed in turn by a coup in 1962.