Arturo Umberto Illia

President of Argentina

4, 1900 Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

January 18, 1983(1983-01-18) (82) Córdoba, Argentina

October 12, 1963 – June 28, 1966

29th President of Argentina Arturo Umberto Illia (Spanish pronunciation:  ; August 4, 1900 – January 18, 1983) was an Argentine politician and physician, who was President of Argentina from October 12, 1963, to June 28, 1966. He was a member of the centrist Radical Civic Union. Illia reached the presidency of the Nation in elections controlled by the Armed Forces in which Peronism was outlawed and while the previous constitutional president Arturo Frondizi was detained. During his government, the national industry was promoted, 23% of the national budget was allocated to education (the highest figure in the history of the country), unemployment fell, the external debt decreased, a literacy plan was carried out and sanctioned the Minimum, Vital and Mobile Salary laws and the so-called Oñativia Law (also called Medications). He was noted for his honesty and trustworthiness, an example of this being the fact that Illia lived almost all his life in his humble home in Cruz del Eje, where he devoted himself to medicine, and that he never used his influence to his advantage, to the point such as having to sell his car while in command and refusing to use public funds to finance his medical treatments. After his government, he maintained his active political militancy, rejected the retirement perks he had earned as president, and returned home to continue dedicating himself to medicine.