José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980), most commonly known as Luis Muñoz Marín, () was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico from 1949 to 1965. He previously served as the fourth president of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1941 to 1948.
Founder of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in 1938, Muñoz Marín promoted the industrialization of the archipelago and island in continued association with the United States, prioritizing economic development over independence. He is regarded as the architect of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (), the current political status of Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory under the sovereign jurisdiction of the United States with local constitutional self-government since 1952.
Serving as governor for 16 consecutive years from 1949 to 1965, Muñoz Marín spearheaded an administration that engineered profound economic, political, and social reforms, leading to accomplishments that were internationally lauded by many politicians, statesmen, political scientists, and economists of the period. He was instrumental in the suppression of the Nationalist Party and its efforts to achieve the independence of Puerto Rico as a sovereign state, which he supported before adopting a political platform that advocated accommodation with the United States. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Kennedy in 1963.
Early life and education Childhood Luis Muñoz Marín was born on February 18, 1898, at 152 Calle de la Fortaleza in Old San Juan. He was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera and Amalia Marín Castilla. His father was a poet, publisher, and a politician, responsible for founding two newspapers, El Diario and La Democracia. Days before Luis' birth, his father traveled to Spain to present a proposal of autonomy for Puerto Rico, which was accepted.Bernier-Grand et al., p.1 His father was elected to serve as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico and Chief of the Cabinet for the Government of Puerto Rico.
On October 18, 1898, Puerto Rico was taken by the United States following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War. Luis's father assisted in establishing an insular police force, but opposed the military colonial government established by the United States. He resigned from office on February 4, 1899, but was later elected to the House of Delegates of Puerto Rico.
One of Muñoz Marín's paternal great-grandfathers, Luis Muñoz Iglesias, was born on October 12, 1797, in Palencia, Spain. At age 14, he had joined the Spanish Army and battled Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army in the Peninsular War. Afterward he decided to make his career in the army, and was awarded decorations after fighting against Simón Bolívar during the Admirable Campaign of independence in Latin America. Once the conflict was over, he traveled to Puerto Rico along with his commanding officer, Miguel de la Torre. He subsequently settled in a farm in Cidra and married María Escolástica Barrios. One of his great-grandmothers was Rosa Solá, a woman held in slavery by his great grandfather, Vicente Marín.See baptismal record of Ramón Marín, republished in Ramón Marín, Obra Completa. Socorro Girón, ed. Ponce, 1989.
In 1901, when Muñoz Marín was three years old, a group of statehood supporters broke into his father's El Diario's building and vandalized most of the equipment.Bernier-Grand et al., pp. 8–9 Following this incident, the family moved to Caguas. After receiving further threats from the statehood movements, the family moved to New York City. There Muñoz Marín learned English, while his father founded the bilingual newspaper, Puerto Rico Herald. During the following years, the family frequently traveled between both locations.Bernier-Grand et al., pp. 10–11 His father founded the Unionist Party in Puerto Rico, which won the election in 1904. Following the party's victory, his father was elected as a member of the House of Delegates.
Muñoz Marín began his elementary education at William Penn Public School in Santurce, a district of San Juan.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 12 Most classes were taught in English, a change imposed by the American colonial government. Muñoz Marín's knowledge of English allowed him to be advanced to second grade, although he had some difficulty the next year. In 1908, Muñoz Marín was enrolled in a small private school in San Juan. Working with the teacher Pedro Moczó, in two years he covered all the material normally taught to students between third and eighth grade, passing tests with good grades.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 15
In 1910, his father was elected as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. This position is a non-voting delegate to the United States Congress.
In 1911, he began his studies at the Georgetown Preparatory School but disliked its strict discipline and failed the tenth grade.Bernier-Grand et al., pp. 18–19 In 1915, his father enrolled him at Georgetown University Law Center, but Muñoz Marín was uninterested and wanted to become a poet.
In late 1916, Muñoz Marín and his mother were called to Puerto Rico by their friend Eduardo Georgetti, who said Luis' father was suffering from an infection spreading from his gallbladder. Muñoz Rivera died on November 15, 1916, when Luis was eighteen.
Poetry and ideological contrasts A month later Muñoz Marín and his mother returned to New York; he sold his law books and refused to return to Georgetown.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 26 Within one month he published a book titled Borrones, composed of several stories and a one-act play. For several months, he served as the congressional clerk to Félix Córdova Dávila, who succeeded Muñoz Marín's father as Resident Commissioner.La Obra de Félix Córdova Dávila, Correspondencia Política entre Félix Córdova Dávila y Antonio R. Barceló (1917–1921), published by Oficina del Historiador de Puerto Rico, 2008,
Marriage and family On July 1, 1919, Muñoz Marín married Muna Lee, an American writer from Raymond, Mississippi, who had grown up in Oklahoma.Bernier-Grand et al., pp. 32–33 Lee was a leading Southern feminist and a rising writer of Pan-American poetry. They had a daughter and a son together, but often lived apart before separating in 1938.
During the 1920s Muñoz Marín spent the majority of his time in Greenwich Village, where he lived apart from his wife and young children. During those years he often asked his wife and mother to send him money, and indulged in a "Bohemian lifestyle" that strained his marriage. Muñoz Marín and his wife Muna Lee underwent a legal separation in 1938.A.W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's Democratic Revolution, pp. 70–73; Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2006;
During his first campaign for the Puerto Rico Senate in 1932, Muñoz Marín was accused of being a narcotics addict; he was alleged to be addicted to opium.Luis Muñoz Marín, Memorias, p. 57; Fundacion Luis Muñoz Marín, 2003; A.W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's Democratic Revolution, pp. 94–95; Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2006;
Before his campaigns of 1938 and 1939, while he was still legally married, Muñoz Marín met Inés Mendoza. A teacher, she became his mistress and was fired for complaining about the prohibition against classes in Spanish. They agreed that substituting "one language for another is to diminish that country's capacity to be happy".Bernier-Grand et al., pp. 61–62 Muñoz Marín asked Mendoza to "stay with him all his life."Bernier-Grand et al., p. 63
In 1940, a month after his election as President of the Senate in Puerto Rico, Muñoz Marín and Mendoza had a daughter, Victoria, named to commemorate his success.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 73 He and Mendoza officially married in 1946, and they had a second daughter, Viviana.
In the 1980s, their daughter Victoria Muñoz Mendoza became active in Puerto Rican politics. In 1992, she became the first woman to run as a candidate for the governorship of Puerto Rico.
Formation of political ideas In 1920, Muñoz Marín was selected to deliver a check to Santiago Iglesias, the president of the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico. Excited about the prospect of meeting him, they moved to Puerto Rico, where the couple's first daughter, Munita, was born.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 36 Upon arriving, he noticed that some of the landowners were paying the jíbaros, the mountain-dwelling peasants of Puerto Rico, two dollars in exchange for their votes. He joined the Socialist Party, a decision regarded as a "disaster" by his family.Bernier-Grand et al., p.41 In October 1920, the Socialist Party recruited members of the Republican Party in order to win upcoming elections. Disappointed, Muñoz Marín returned to the mainland, moving to New Jersey with his family. Shortly after, his first son, Luis Muñoz Lee, was born.
In 1923, he returned alone to Puerto Rico, supposedly to publish a book that collected several of his father's previously unpublished works. After collecting $5,000 from his father's friends for this alleged "publication" Muñoz Marín spent the money, did not write the book, and quickly left the island.FBI File Report: Luis Muñoz Marín, File #100-5745; pp. 16–17 Retrieved 05-31-2013. Several years later, after things had quieted down, Antonio R. Barceló, who was the president of the newly formed Liberal Party, called Muñoz Marín to work on La Democracia.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 46 After having problems with some members of the party's Republican faction, due to his support for island autonomy, Muñoz Marín returned to New York. Here he wrote for The American Mercury and The Nation.
In 1931, after traveling throughout the United States, Muñoz Marín noticed the instability of the country's economy — and his own personal finances — after the stock market crash.He borrowed money from a group of friends and returned to the island.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 48 Upon arriving, he discovered that Hurricane San Felipe Segundo had destroyed most of the sugar crops where the jíbaros worked, leaving the majority unemployed.
Political career
Senator By the 1930s, Puerto Rico's political scenario had changed; the only party actively asking for independence was the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. That organization's president, Pedro Albizu Campos, occasionally met with Muñoz Marín. He was impressed by the substance of Albizu's arguments, but their styles to achieve autonomy and social reforms were different.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 51
In 1932, Antonio R. Barceló abandoned the Coalition, which by this time had weakened, and he worked to establish a new independence movement. Barceló adopted several of Muñoz Marín's ideas of social and economic reforms and autonomy, using them to form the ideology of the Liberal Party of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín joined the Liberal Party and led La Democracia, which had become the party's official newspaper. He had decided to become a politician to achieve reform. In speeches, he discussed ways to provide more land, hospitals, food and schools to the general public.
On March 13, 1932, Muñoz Marín was nominated by the party for the post of senator. Although the party did not win a majority in the 1932 elections, Muñoz Marín received enough votes to gain a position in the Puerto Rican Senate.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 52 Shortly after, Rudy Black, a reporter for La Democracia, arranged a meeting between him and Eleanor Roosevelt. Wanting her to see Puerto Rico's problems personally, he persuaded her to visit the main island.Bernier-Grand et al., p. 53