Background
Tomás Estrada Palma was born in Bayamo on 9 July 1835.
government official politician
Tomás Estrada Palma was born in Bayamo on 9 July 1835.
In 1876, during the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878), he was declared president of the rebel “Republic in Arms,” a position he held only briefly before being captured by the Spaniards. Following release from prison, Estrada was named by the revolutionary forces to carry on diplomatic negotiations abroad, primarily with the United States. Throughout the 1880s, he operated a Quaker school for boys in upstate New York and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In 1895 he was chief for a year of the Cuban junta in New York, succeeding José Marti, who had departed for Cuba to lead the revolution.
On May 29, 1902, Tomás Estrade Palma became Cuba’s first president. Elected without opposition, with support of most of the leading politicians and military leaders, he unfortunately was the wrong man for the position. He was not a true representative of Cuban nationalism, preferred a politically dependent Cuba, and prior to assuming office had anticipated annexation of Cuba by the United States. Once in power, he made it clear that he supported the Platt Amendment.
The most lasting legacy of the republic’s first president was legitimization and institutionalization of U.S. intervention in Cuban domestic affairs. In 1905 Estrada Palma agreed to run for reelection with support of the Moderate (Conservative) Party, and the Liberal Party boycotted the election. In August 1906, with the Liberals in rebellion, Estrada Palma virtually begged the United States to invoke the Platt Amendment and intervene. When President Theodore Roosevelt hesitated, Estrada Palma resigned, thereby creating a political vacuum that forced the United States to intervene.
Coming to power without any meaningful political party or platform, Estrada carried on programs initiated by Leonard Wood during the first U.S. occupation. Over 300 kilometers of new roads, improved sanitation, expanded public works, and continued growth of educational programs were his accomplishments. The treasury reserve grew from $539,000 in 1902 to $7,099,000 in 1906. However, he was unsuccessful in getting Congress to approve legislation necessary for establishment of political order. The Constitution of 1901 called for the promulgation of 43 organic laws. 15 had been adopted during the first U.S. occupation, and under Estrada Palma only 4 were passed. With a reputation for financial integrity, Estrada Palma was perhaps the only Cuban president prior to 1959 who failed to enrich himself in office.
