Career
He graduated from the Pedagogical Institute and the School of Law of the University of Chile.
He taught in a secondary school and on various faculties of the university, during which time he was sent on educational missions to Europe and the United States. Recognized as an outstanding public servant, he occupied almost every important post in the Chilean national government, being three times minister of the interior, a national senator, minister of education, and president of the Radical Party. In 1938, he was backed by a coalition of the leftist parties known as the Popular Front, and was elected president of Chile.