Background
Enrique Adolfo Jiménez was born into a family of modest means, in Panama on 11 August 1888.
Enrique Adolfo Jiménez was born into a family of modest means, in Panama on 11 August 1888.
He received a high school education in Panama.
Jiménez was a member of the Liberal Party.
He went to work in the offices of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. However, in 1908, having participated in the campaign of the successful presidential candidate, José Domingo de Obaldia, he was appointed to the Panamanian consulate in New York, where he spent four years improving his education. From that point on, Jiménez filled numerous government positions, including treasury minister in 1931 and ambassador to the United States during World War II.
President Jiménez faced his most serious problem in 1947 when the United States sought to extend for 20 years the agreement covering military bases it had built outside the Zone during World War II. The president, against advice of Foreign Minister Ricardo Joaquin Alfaro, accepted this agreement. Alfaro resigned, protesting crowds filled the plazas, and the National Assembly unanimously rejected the pact.