Background
Jorge Alessandri Rodrigue was born on 19 May, 1986 in Santiago. The son of Arturo Alessandri Rodriguez.
Jorge Alessandri Rodrigue was born on 19 May, 1986 in Santiago. The son of Arturo Alessandri Rodriguez.
Graduated in 1919 from the School of Engineering of the University of Chile.
In 1926 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. However, when Carlos Ibáñez del Campo became President in May 1927, he forced Jorge Alessandri into exile where he stayed during most of the Ibáñez period.
During most of the 1930s Jorge Alessandri worked with the government’s Mortgage Bank as an engineer. In 1938 he became manager of the country’s large paper company, a position he kept for 20 years. He gained a reputation as an efficient manager who was able to maintain friendly relations with the unions of the company’s employees. He also achieved a reputation as a financial wizard, a fame only slightly tarnished by service as minister of finance in the government of President Gabriel González Videla from August 1948 until February 1950.
In 1956 Jorge Alessandri was elected senator from Santiago. Two years later he was the candidate of a coalition of parties of the right for the presidency, winning a narrow victory over Socialist Senator Salvador Allende Gossens. As president, Alessandri carried out a notable public housing program, in conformity with the Alliance for Progress enacted a modest agrarian reform law, and somewhat modified the tax system. In foreign affairs, Alessandri had Chile join the Latin American Free Trade Area.
After retiring from the presidency in 1964, Jorge Alessandri returned to the paper company as board chairman. In 1970 he again ran as the right’s candidate for president, losing by a narrow margin to Salvador Allende. He supported the military overthrow of the Allende government, and for a while he served in an Advisory Council of State established by President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.
When his father went into exile in September 1924, Jorge accompanied him to Europe and returned to Chile when his father did in March 1925.