Early career Born to privilege in the city of
La Plata, Roberto Noble developed a
socialist ideology as an adolescent, having already earned some renown by 1918 agitating for the movement to
reform Argentina's university system, whose curriculum had hitherto been largely dictated by
conservative Catholics. Obtaining a Law Degree at the prestigious
National University of La Plata, he joined the
Socialist Party of Argentina, and later aligned himself with the dissident Independent Socialists. This party split from the Socialist Party to seek an alliance with conservatives sharing their distaste for the populist
Hipólito Yrigoyen for the
1928 elections (which Yrigoyen won). Noble was a vocal advocate for the overthrow of President Yrigoyen, whose high-handed style of governing put him in a precarious situation following the
Wall Street crash of 1929. The regime that deposed the aging Yrigoyen in a
coup in September 1930, gave way to elections the following year, for which the new regime organized the
Concordance, a coalition of the
National Autonomist Party (the conservative party in power during most of the 1880-1916 era) with centrist
Radical Civic Union figures opposed to Yrigoyen and amenable Socialists. Having been part of the latter group since 1927, Noble joined the ticket and was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies (lower house of congress). Representing the city of
Buenos Aires until 1936, he introduced a number of progressive bills that became law, including needed anti-abuse reforms to rural Argentina's
Justice of the Peace system and the landmark Law 11723, the basis for Argentina's Law of Intellectual and Artistic Property. This disappointment led Noble to renounce direct political involvement in the future. He turned to the promotion of cultural activities and was appointed head of the National Commission for Culture, a body he helped create during his days in the lower house. Seeking an alternative to Buenos Aires's three principal newsdailies,
La Nación,
La Prensa and
La Razón (all of a decidedly conservative bent), Noble sold and the bulk of his estate (including his prized
pampas ranch) for US$1.6 million and, printing an initial distribution of 60,000 copies, he inaugurated
Clarín (the "Clarion") on Tuesday, 28 August 1945.
Clarín "A touch of Argentine attention to Argentine problems," as he billed
Clarín, the daily's
tabloid format stood out in newsstands from its
broadsheet competitors and sold out on its first day in Buenos Aires newsstands. It also stood out for its innovative front page layout. Sporting large headlines, relatively brief introductory text below each, and copious illustrations, the front page served primarily as a table of contents inviting the reader to look inside for more. The iconic title, moreover, was placed to accommodate the layout and could be found anywhere on the top half of the paper's smaller, more manageable front page, giving the daily a whimsical touch. This design, a novelty in 1945, made
Clarín more "reader-friendly" than other local dailies and later influenced newspaper front pages around the world, including
British tabloids and news dailies such as
USA Today. Earning renown as both a businessman and journalist, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the
Order of Malta in 1951 and
Columbia University's prestigious
Maria Moors Cabot prize in 1955. Noble, a supporter of
developmentalism, endorsed
Arturo Frondizi who, during his 1958-62 presidency promulgated the
Law of Foreign Investment and other incentives which, together, resulted in sharp increases in energy and industrial production (leading to the elimination of Argentina's stubborn trade deficits of the 1950s).
Clarín's support of these measures helped lead to its widespread preference by the Argentine middle class (Latin America's largest, proportionately) and, by 1965,
Clarín enjoyed the largest circulation in Argentina, a trend reinforced by innovations such as weekly color supplements and thematic inserts (firsts in the Argentine newspaper industry). Noble resisted the drive towards unionization being felt across Argentina's vast publishing industry during the 1960s, a development primarily a result of publishing workers' union leader
Raimundo Ongaro, whose Socialist ideology put him at odds with the paramount
CGT labor federation. Interviewed at the time regarding his career, Noble described his own early Socialist affiliations as a "youthful indiscretion." His health declining, he established the Noble Foundation in 1966 for charitable purposes and married his longtime companion, Ernestina Herrera in 1967. Roberto Noble died in Buenos Aires two years later, at age 66, and was interred at
La Recoleta Cemetery. ==References==