President Arnulfo Arias (Panama) - Typed Letter Signed 05/15/1950
(ARNULFO ARIAS The President of Panama known for his corru...)
ARNULFO ARIAS The President of Panama known for his corrupt practices signed this typed letter dated in the year 1950, while he was serving in the executive office for the second time Typed Letter Signed: "Arnulfo Arias" as President of Panama. One page. 8½x10¾. On official letterhead. Panama. Dated May 15, 1950. To Eddie Sousa, Livermore, California. In Full: "I am enclosing herewith my autographed photograph not included as you requested in your letter of May first. As a medical man, I can assure you that your recovery depends more on your ownself that sic the surroundings or even on the medical staff of the Sanatorium. The control of your emotions and reactions and the dutifully sic compliance of the orders of your doctor and nurses, will certainly bring your health back. Wishing your prompt recovery, I am yours very truly,". Arnulfo Arias Madrid (1901-1988) served as President of Panama from 1940-1941, 1949-1951 and from October 1-11, 1968. All three of his tenures in the office were marked by corruption, eccentric policies, and military coups to end his term. His first term was perhaps most haphazard. After giving women the right to vote for the first time in the country's history, he sought to establish relations with Nazi Germany in the middle of WWII. He even offered to surrender sovereign territory to the European nation. During his second term, he created a secret police force and suspended the constitution before he was ousted. His third term, which lasted a mere 11 days, resulted in his exile. Despite his poor political record, he ran for President in 1984 and had a substantial lead at the age of 83. The controlling government manipulated the vote count to prevent the corrupt politician from winning the election. Before his political career took off, he studied medicine at Harvard University and became a doctor. Word "that" is struck out ... More information available. Please contact us if you have questions. HFSID 175661
Arnulfo Arias was a Panamanian politician, doctor, writer, and President of Panama on three occasions: 1940-41, 1949–51, and for 11 days in October 1968.
Background
Arnulfo Arias was born in Penonomé, Coclé Province, Colombia, August 15, 1901, more than two years before the American-backed revolt made Panama an independent country in November 1903.
The Arias family is one of several Panamanian middle-class families prominent in isthmian politics. Arnulfo Arias was the son of Antonio Arias and Carmen Madrid, and the brother of Harmodio Arias, who served as the President of Panama in two occasions: for 13 days in January 1931, and from 1932-36
Education
Arnulfo Arias began his studies at the French Christian Brothership (today known as La Salle) in his native city and attended secondary school in New York City. He studied medicine and surgery at Harvard University and the University of Chicago. Later, he specialized in psychiatry, obstetrics and endocrinology.
Career
After interning at Boston City Hospital, he returned to Panama in 1925. In the 1930s Arnulfo entered into politics. He criticized the old Panamanian political establishment for being too agreeable to the United States, especially on matters related to the Panama Canal. In 1936, when Arnulfo was representing Panama in various diplomatic posts in Europe, his brother, Harmodio, president of Panama since 1932, negotiated a new canal treaty with the United States. This treaty did not replace the hated 1903 canal arrangement, but at least Panama obtained greater benefits in the Canal Zone. In 1940, after the new treaty was approved, Arnulfo became president of Panama.
Arnulfo took power just as the American military began pressing for greater territorial concessions from Panama to build defense installations to protect the Panama Canal. As a price for these concessions, Arnulfo demanded greater economic concessions from the United States. He championed the Spanish language and excited a generation of panameños with his nationalistic rhetoric. Irritated by this outburst of criticism, the U. S. government resisted Arias' demands. In Washington, American officials accused him of being pro-German, but in truth Arias (like Omar Torrijos several decades later) was really expressing the longstanding resistance by Panamanians against American domination of their country. After Arias was tossed out by a palace revolt in October 1941 the United States quickly obtained the defense sites agreement it wanted.
In 1948 Arias ran again, was elected, but had to wait 18 months before taking power. But once more he so frightened the old families and the national guard with his prolabor policies and anti-American rhetoric that the military kicked him out.
In 1964 Arias ran for a third time, in the months after a bloody confrontation between Americans and Panamanians in January 1964. But once again he was deprived of power by an apparent electoral fraud that gave the executive power in Panama to Marco Robles. Four years later Arnulfo, now aged noticeable but still a vigorous campaigner, ran again. He won a disproportionate victory, but less than two weeks after his inaugural on October 1, 1968, the national guard, under Omar Torrijos, kicked him out.
Arias went to Miami and waited until 1977 to return to Panama. Torrijos was still in power but the Panamanian economy was in trouble. Arias came back to Panama City to a tumultuous welcome from 100, 000 enthusiastic followers. Though an old man, he had lost none of his hold on the Panamanian people. True to form, Arias criticized the economic situation, Torrijos and the "cult of personality, " and especially the new canal treaties Torrijos signed with the Jimmy Carter administration in Washington.
Torrijos held on to power until his death in a helicopter crash in 1981, but Arias showed that he still had a powerful appeal to the ordinary Panamanians. Age had not mellowed him. He still criticized his followers.
In 1984, at 82 and nearly blind, Arias ran yet another time for Panamanian president and narrowly lost to Nicolas Ardito Barleta. Many panameños still remembered that Arias made Spanish the official language of Panama and gave women the vote in his first term in 1940-1941. Yet he remained a vigorous anti-communist. It probably did not matter that he lost, some of his supporters said, because the national guard would probably have kicked him out had he won. Arias died in 1988.
(ARNULFO ARIAS The President of Panama known for his corru...)
Politics
He was a vigorous anti-communist.
Views
Quotations:
"The Panamanian people are like oxen, " he once said, "you have to keep prodding them with a stick to keep them moving. "
On another occasion he said, "Panama is like a village, what it needs is a mayor, not a president. "
Connections
Arias married to Ana Matilde Linares in 1927 and remained together until her death in 1955. In 1964, he married Mireya Moscoso. They remained together until his death. Moscoso later became the first woman President of Panama following the 1999 elections.
During his first marriage, he adopted a son named Gerardo Edilberto Arias (1929-2002).