Jesús María de Leizaola

Who was Jesús María de Leizaola?

Jesús María de Leizaola Sánchez was a Basque politician and was named President of the Basque Government in exile after José Antonio Aguirre's death in 1960.

Leizola qualified in law at the University of Valladolid and in 1915 he began work for the government of Gipuzkoa, becoming exposed to nationalist politics. In 1919 he became head of the planning section for the Municipality of Bilbao where he joined the Basque Nationalist Party. In 1922 he led a march calling for the creation of a Basque University in Gernika during which he was arrested along with the editor of Euzkadi. They were forced to march to Amorebieta before being freed. He rose up the ranks of Bilbao's city government before leaving in 1925 to take on the administration of the bankrupt Crédito de la Unión Minera and becoming more involved politically.

Leizaola was elected a member of Parliament in July 1931 in the Spanish Republic which existed from 1931 to 1939. Having returned to San Sebastian to resume his career in civil administration in 1933, he was one of the principal city officials who maintained order there and assisted in the evacuation when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936. He left his home town of San Sebastian in September 1936 and would not return for 40 years.