born July 6, 1877, Priego, Spain
died Feb. 18, 1949, Buenos Aires, Arg.
Spanish politician.
After serving as minister of works (1917) and minister of war (1922), he opposed the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and joined the Republican movement. As leader of the revolutionary committee that successfully demanded the abdication of Alfonso XIII , he became head of the government in 1931 and was elected president of Spain's Second Republic that same year. He tried to moderate the policies of the extremist factions, but he was deposed in 1936 after the election of the Popular Front and went into exile to France and then to Argentina.