Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear assumed the presidency of Argentina on 12 October 1922, but his cabinet caused a bad impression among many radicals, since almost none of the ministers was in favor of the former president, although it was, in most cases, of personalities of recognized intellectual capacity. For this reason, the distance between Alvear and
Yrigoyen began. Certain appointments of ministers were surprising, as was the case of Admiral
Manuel Domecq García, fervent repressor of the striking demonstrations during the Yrigoyen government, as well as the appointment of General
Agustín Justo. The Argentine radio broadcast the ceremony of the transfer of command, and for the first time in the history of Argentina the voice of a president was heard on the
radio. The Sunday following the inauguration, Alvear visited the
Jockey Club. It had been six years since a president had not attended there, as Yrigoyen refused to do so. Alvear's cabinet fully attended an interpellation in the Chamber of Deputies, when the ministers had not attended at least since 1919. On 1 May 1923 Alvear read the presidential speech. At 8:00 p.m., Alvear took his car and drove to the Constitución neighborhood to Yrigoyen's house, who invited him to dinner.
Economic policy The economic expansion that Argentina experienced during the period known as the radical republic (1916–1930), had an average annual expansion of 8.1%.His period of government began just when the
postwar world crisis ended, which allowed the economy and finances to improve without major setbacks. During his government, the Argentine economy reached the most prosperous situation it has ever had in its history:
GDP per inhabitant for 1928 reached sixth place among the highest in the world, and income increased by almost 100,000,000 gold
pesos. Furthermore, for three years the commercial exchange had been positive. These conditions occurred mainly thanks to the favorable external front: the reactivation after the
First World War caused
European countries to buy
Argentine crops. For this reason, the Alvear government focused on agro-export policies, especially meat and cereals. By 1925, Argentina covered 72% of world
flax exports, 66% of
corn, 50% of
meat, 32% of
oats, and 20% of
wheat and
flour. Industrial crops such as
cotton also increased exponentially, from 2,000 hectares in 1914 to 122,000 in 1930. In addition, the area planted with
yerba mate,
peanuts,
rice,
grapes,
sugar cane and
tobacco grew. plant in
La Boca,
Buenos Aires. in Mar del Plata. In addition to the growth in agriculture, industrial development also spread – albeit to a lesser extent – installing in 1922 the first
Ford automotive production plant in
Latin America, with an investment of $240,000 for its construction. Just one year later, the state-owned
YPF installed the first gasoline pump, on the corner of Bartolomé Mitre and Rosales, in the
city of Buenos Aires. In 1925 the popular
Ford T went on sale; after two years, production reached 100,000 units. Starting in 1925, there was a huge increase in foreign investments from the United States, carried out through companies related to the refrigeration industry, with energy distribution and production organizations, and consumer goods. This sudden "invasion" of US capital created competition with capital from the UK. That rivalry was reflected in areas such as transportation, as the automotive products exported from the United States competed with the British railways. But competition with refrigeration companies linked to these two countries also intensified. These conflicts led to the deterioration of relations with the British.
Social policy A number of reforms were carried out during Alvear's presidency, amongst which included the creation of a Children's Bureau, a law that ended night work for bakers, a law intended to protect women and children factory workers, legislation forcing the payment of salaries in money and not goods, and a pension plan for bank employees. Law No. 11,357, which was signed by the President on 22 September 1926, granted to women “(single, divorced or widowed) of legal age all the civil rights and functions which the law grants to men who have attained their majority". In 1926, the government started to take cognizance of agricultural cooperatives in 1926, with the Banco di la nacion legally empowered that year "to grant financial assistance, arrange amortization of loans, and otherwise aid in the formation of cooperative societies". Law No. 11388 was also passed by the government, "which officially recognized the cooperative movement and set forth regulations to guide the formation and operation of agricultural cooperatives". A decree was also signed approving regulations for mortgage loans by the Board of Directors of the Bank Employees' National Pension Fund. According to these regulations, loans from the Bank Employees' National Pension Fund "may be made to bank employees who have served 10 years under the national retirement laws recognized by the banking institutions where they are employed".
International policy During Alvear's administration, border agreements were signed with
Bolivia. An attempt was made to cancel the debt that
Paraguay had with Argentina due to the
War of the Triple Alliance. An attempt was also made to implement a tonnage limitation programme for warships alongside
Chile. On 30 October 1922, an act was signed between the Argentine ambassador
Horacio Carrillo and the Bolivian chancellor
Severo Fernández Alonso in which it was agreed to review the 1889 treaty to modify the border between both countries. In 1924, Román Paz assumed his position as the new
Foreign Minister of Bolivia, for which reason the revision of the treaty had to be agreed upon between the Bolivian authority and Carrillo. Paz proposed that the city of
Los Toldos remain in Bolivian rule. , 1925. This discussion lasted all of 1924, until an agreement could be reached with the new Bolivian foreign minister in office,
Eduardo Díez de Medina, who did not intend major changes in the limit. The
Bolivian president agreed to modify some boundary line in order to compensate Argentina and seal the agreement. The Carrillo-Díez de Medina treaty was signed on 9 July 1925 and ceded the town of
Yacuiba to Bolivia. , crown prince of
Italy and the Argentine president, Marcelo T. de Alvear. On 6 August 1924, celebrations and official entertainments were held on the occasion of the visit to the country of the crown prince to the throne of Italy,
Umberto of Savoy. Alvear invited the future king to attend a parade of 25,000 children from Argentine public schools in the Congress Square. The Government decided from 1922 to reject telephone and telegraphic postal correspondence to and from the
Malvinas Islands in order to add concrete pressure to the diplomatic claim on the archipelago that was being occupied by the English. The government of the islands tried to alleviate the Argentine action by hiring steamers from
Montevideo, and the British protest was not long in coming. Buenos Aires responded by alleging that the measure was not official, but that it was personal initiatives of the officials. In any case, by March 1928, communications with the islands were fully reestablished, after a clarification had been made that the resumption of service in no way implied renouncing the Argentine right to claim them. During the V
Pan American Conference meeting in
Santiago de Chile in 1923, the host country proposed to Argentina to limit the arms race of both countries. The Chilean delegation accepted a first proposal from the
United States of Brazil, which consisted of a limit of 80,000 tons for warships, but Argentina rejected it and responded with a counterproposal of 55,000 tons as a ceiling for warships. , 1925. This new proposal did not succeed either, and for this reason diplomatic relations with Chile cooled down during the short administration of Chilean President
Emiliano Figueroa. In addition, Chile was militarily rearmed in 1926, in response to what Argentina had done in 1924. There was another Chilean attempt at disarmament by the new president, Colonel
Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, but it was also rejected by
Argentina. On 24 March 1925, the scientist
Albert Einstein and his wife
Elsa arrived in Argentina —in the framework of a tour also carried out by
Brazil and
Uruguay— to stay in the country for exactly one month. It was a remarkable fact that Einstein traveled to Argentina during that period, since with his visit he certified the good state that the country was going through at that time. The scientist, known worldwide for his
theory of relativity, came to meet with the
Argentine president. He had arrived at an invitation from the
University of Buenos Aires and the Argentine Hebraic Society, and during his stay he gave twelve lectures, the vast majority explaining the new theory. On 17 August, the
Prince of Wales,
Edward of Windsor, heir to the British crown, arrived in Argentina. As a result of his visit and the
Maharaja of Kapurthala, Alvear organized an excursion to Huetel (in the
partido of 25 May,
province of Buenos Aires), to the estancia of Concepción Unzué de Casares (a kind of palace in the style of the France of
Louis XIII) in the Argentine pampas, where they heard
Carlos Gardel sing. Prince of Wales, the Maharaja of
Kapurthala and Prince Umberto of Savoy produced an excess in the expenses foreseen for the events, whose total amount was around 500,000 pesos. Minister Víctor Molina informed the president that the amount has been spent and proposed to pass the expense to general income, but Alvear decided to take over the payment of half a million pesos, for which he had the subdivision and sale of part of his inherited lands in
Don Torcuato.
Oil policy One of the first actions of the Alvear government was to appoint General
Enrique Mosconi as general director of
Yacimiento Petrolifos Fiscales (YPF). Mosconi promoted YPF's growth with government support, with the aim of achieving oil self-sufficiency, vital for the country's autonomous development, and promoted measures to reduce competition between YPF and foreign companies. He managed the construction of the La Plata Industrial Complex, launched for oil refining in 1925, which made the country independent from the purchase of gasoline. Five months after its licensing, the production of gasoline for airplanes began. This industrial plant was the tenth largest distillery in the world. During his eight years in office, Mosconi almost tripled oil production, from 348,888 cubic meters in 1922 to 872,171 cubic meters in 1929. The state oil company YPF inaugurated the first kerosene pump on 22 February 1923 in
Buenos Aires; three months later another six were installed. On 20 June, the first gasoline pump for vehicles was built in Mitre and Rosales Avenue, manufactured by the industrialist
Torcuato Di Tella after consulting with his friend, General Mosconi. YPF had fifty thousand employees. Both oil and self-sufficiency became campaign issues during the year 1928, when oil exploitation began in the province of
Salta; in 1933 oil would be discovered in
Tranquitas, in the same province.
Public and cultural works . During this administration, a large number of monuments and public and private works were built; Unlike his predecessor, Alvear always tried to be present at ceremonies, inaugurations and all kinds of social events. Regarding public works, the construction of the Ministry of Finance, Public Works, War and Navy and the building of the
National Bank in
Plaza de Mayo began. It also promoted culture, with the construction of theaters, museums and various artistic institutions. According to various historians, more public works were inaugurated during his tenure than during that of any of his predecessors, and as many official ceremonies were held with the participation of the Head of State as had never been seen before. In 1923 the
Luján Museum was inaugurated. In the
city of Buenos Aires the mayor Carlos Noel had an outstanding mandate; His works included the completion of the
Paseo de la Costanera Sur, the construction of ovens for the incineration of garbage, and the purchase of the Lezica farm to build the Rivadavia park. Noel also had many streets of the city paved. In 1923 the president sent to the
National Congress a project to form a national delegation to participate in the
1924 Paris Olympic Games, but the initiative did not prosper. On 31 December of that year, a decree was signed creating the
Argentine Olympic Committee and thus the concurrence of Argentina to the Olympic Games was resolved, counting to cover the expenses with 250,000 pesos from an amount not collected in the National Lottery, with based on law 11 067. Thus, the first official participation in the Olympic Games by Argentina took place in 1924. At the initiative of his wife,
Regina Pacini, and motivated by the memories of the difficult times their parents had to go through, it occurred to him to found an institution that would protect them. He debated the idea with
Enrique García Velloso and
Angelina Pagano, among others, and called on theater entrepreneurs and artists. On 30 December 1927, the Deliberative Council granted the concession of a site for fifty years located in
Santa Fe in 1200, while the
Colón Theater gave special functions to raise funds; at the evening held at the Colón
Beniamino Gigli and
Claudia Muzzio sang. This is how the
Casa del Teatro was born. Similarly, at the initiative of Pacini, Alvear authorized by decree the creation of the Municipal
Radio 710 KHz, officially dedicated to broadcasting the season of operas and concerts from the Colón Theater, so that people who could not attend the theater could listen to classical music. The first broadcast was on 23 May and
Giuseppe Verdi's opera
Rigoletto was broadcast.
The division of radicalism . The division of the
radical party became inevitable in 1923: nine radical senators declared themselves "anti-personalists," that is, against Yrigoyen's personalism, and gave their support to President Alvear. There were also frictions between him and his vice president
Elpidio González, since the latter was a Yrigoyenista; In fact, the division began when the senators began to harass Vice President González. Yrigoyenismo took the antipersonalists as conservatives, while the antipersonalists considered that
Yrigoyen violated the rules of the political game. These disputes continued and, what was worse, they moved to Congress, where the deputies loyal to Yrigoyen came to obstruct several of the initiatives that emerged from the Executive Power, either through discussions or by withdrawing from the premises to avoid giving a quorum. In this context, in January 1925 President Alvear closed the extraordinary sessions by decree, as legislative activity was almost nil. == 1928 election ==