Background
Eduardo Santos was born on 28 August 1888 in Bogota. He was of aristocratic background.
Eduardo Santos was born on 28 August 1888 in Bogota. He was of aristocratic background.
He was educated at the Colegio del Rosario and in Paris.
Upon return from France in 1913, he founded the Liberal Party daily El Tiempo of Bogotá, which he owned until his death.
With the return of the Liberals to power under President Enrique Olaya Herrera in 1931, Eduardo Santos served as foreign minister, governor of the Province of Santander, and head of the Colombian delegation to the League of Nations. He also was head of the Colombian delegation which negotiated the settlement of the Leticia dispute with Peru (1933-1934).
Representing more moderate elements of the Liberal Party. Santos was elected president in 1938, as successor to Alfonso López Pumirejo and his “Revolution on the March.”
After leaving the presidency in 1942, Santos served on the National Directorate of the Liberal Party. Between 1944 and 1948 he was an official of the United Nations relief agency UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration).
During the Conservative Party administration of Laureano Gómez, Santos unsuccessfully sought to rally Liberal forces against the regime. In the subsequent dictatorship of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, Santos’ newspaper El Tiempo was closed for almost two years in 1955-1957, which became an international cause célebre. With the overthrow of Rojas Pinilla, control of El Tiempo was returned to Santos.
During the National Front alliance of Liberal and Conservative parties following the overthrow of Rojas Pinilla, Santos was a strong supporter of the Front. He was a particularly strong backer of the government of Carlos Lleras Restrepo, who had been one of his ministers.