Background
Fernando Belaúnde Terry was born in Lima on 7 October 1912.
architect government official politician president
Fernando Belaúnde Terry was born in Lima on 7 October 1912.
He studied mechanical engineering in Paris, after which he trans¬ferred to the University of Miami and then to the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a B.S. in architecture in 1935.
He returned to Lima to practice his profession. Belaúnde founded El Arqitecto Peruano, a professional journal, in 1937 and began to teach at the Faculty of Engineering of the Catholic University in 1943.
When the National Democratic Front (FDN) was established in 1944, Belaúnde was appointed its secretary, and in the following year he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. When a military coup overthrew the government of the FDN in 1948, he resumed his professional activities. He served as dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the National Engineering University from 1955 to 1960.
The Front of Democratic Youth nominated him as its candidate for the presidency in the national elections of 1956. He lost the election to Manuel Prado but placed second, and he then helped to transform the National Front of Democratic Youth into Acción Popular (AP), a centrist political party. He was AP presidential candidate in 1962, coming in behind Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, candidate of the Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP). But some generals then overthrew the constitutional government and installed a military junta that called new elections in 1963. This time Belaúnde was proclaimed the winner with 39 percent of the votes. Leftist military officers ousted Belaúnde from power in 1968 and named General Juan Velasco Alvarado as president of a Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces. Belaúnde lived in exile in the United States from 1969 until May 1977, when he returned to Lima.
In 1980 Belaúnde was reelected president for a five-year term with 45 percent of the votes.