Background
Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 18, 1898.
Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 18, 1898.
He was educated in New York City and Washington, D. C. , where his father, Luis Muñoz Rivera, served as resident commissioner. Muñoz Marín studied law for a year at Georgetown University.
Muñoz Marín moved to New York to make his living as a writer. At the age of 19 he published two books in Spanish, Borrones and Madre Haraposa.
In 1926 Muñoz returned to Puerto Rico, took over the editorship of his father's liberal newspaper, La Democracia, and entered politics.
In 1932 he was elected to the Puerto Rican legislature and in 1938 founded the Popular Democratic Party, whose slogan was "Bread, Land, and Liberty. " Two years later the party won its first victory, and Muñoz became president of the senate.
In 1948, when the United States Congress gave Puerto Rico the right to elect its own governor, Muñoz was overwhelmingly chosen; he was reelected in 1952, 1956, and 1960. Muñoz mapped his program for the island like the stages of a campaign. In the 1940's he organized "Operation Bootstrap, " which within 20 years brought a total of more than 600 new industries to the island, built schools, hospitals, and roads, and created thousands of jobs.
In the 1950's he helped develop "Operation Commonwealth, " which gave the island a new and unique political status. Through an act of Congress, Puerto Rico became a commonwealth within the American union, with the right to elect its governor, write its own constitution, and maintain its own Spanish culture, language, and traditions.
A few years later Muñoz implemented "Operation Serenity" with a massive drive to educate his people. He sought to build a society based on culture, creativity, and spiritual values and to turn his island into a showcase of democracy. Known affectionately as "El Vate" (The Bard), Muñoz combines a love of poetry with a passion and talent for politics that made him the undisputed leader of Puerto Rico until he retired from the governorship in 1964 to become a senator.
In 1967 Muñoz, in a plebiscite to decide the future status of the island--whether statehood, independence, or commonwealth--led his party, which still supported commonwealth status, to a clear victory. In 1973 and 1974 Muñoz served as co-chairman of a governmental advisory group investigating the effect of certain U. S. laws of Puerto Rico.
In 1932 he was elected to the Puerto Rican legislature and in 1938 founded the Popular Democratic Party, whose slogan was "Bread, Land, and Liberty. "
