Everything about Luis A Ferre totally explained
Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo (
February 17,
1904 –
October 21,
2003) was a Puerto Rican
engineer,
industrialist,
politician,
philanthropist, and a patron of the
arts. He was the third
Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973, and the founding father of the
New Progressive Party which advocates for
Puerto Rico becoming a state of the
United States of America.
Early life
Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was born in the southern city of
Ponce, Puerto Rico on
February 17,
1904. Ferré's grandfather was a French engineer that was involved in the construction of the
Panama Canal before settling in a residence in
Cuba. In Puerto Rico Antonio met Maria Aguayo Casals, who was a cousin of
Spanish cellist
Pablo Casals. During this time, while living in
Boston, Ferré developed an admiration for the "American way of democracy".
Industrialist
Upon his return to
Puerto Rico, Ferré helped transform his father's company into a successful business which earned him a fortune. In 1948, he acquired "El Día" a fledgling newspaper, converting it to
El Nuevo Día, the newspaper with the largest circulation in Puerto Rico. "Empresas Ferré" would later acquire in the 1950s, Puerto Rico Cement and Ponce Cement, which capitalized in the economic boom which Puerto Rico experienced at the time as the result of the ambitious industrialization projects which came with
Operation Bootstrap. Luis' brother Jose had moved to Miami and his son Mauricio (see
Maurice Ferre) expanded a successful business in Miami, Florida selling bagged pre-mixed cement under the name Mezcla Lista. Maurice also became Mayor of Miami.
Political life
Ferré became active in politics in the 1940s. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ponce in 1940 and
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in 1948.
Representative
In 1948, Puerto Ricans were allowed to elect their governor.
Luis Muñoz Marín was elected governor of Puerto Rico, and a movement began which aimed to adopt a
commonwealth relationship with the
United States of America. In 1951, a
referendum was held to decided to whether to approve or not the option granted by the
United States Congress to draft Puerto Rico's first constitution. Ferré abstained from participating in the process in which the pro-statehood party to which he belonged favored the 1951
referendum. He believed that the process would mean "an acceptance of a colony and condemn the people to a perpetual condition of second class citizenship". Still, Ferré would later participate in the constitutional assembly created by the
referendum which would draft the constitution. In 1952 the
Constitution of Puerto Rico was adopted, creating the
Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico. He was a member of the
Constitutional Assembly. That same year Ferré was elected representative in the
Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Ferré ran under the
Republican Statehood Party ("Partido Estadista Republicano) and officially assumed his duties as representative on
January 11,
1953.
Governor and Senator
In 1967, a
plebiscite was held to decide if the people of
Puerto Rico desired to become an independent nation, a state of the
United States of America or continue the
commonwealth relation established in 1952. The majority of
Puerto Ricans opted for the
Commonwealth option (see
Puerto Rican status referendums). Disagreement among the current pro-statehood party led by
Miguel A. García Méndez led Ferré and others to found the
New Progressive Party or
PNP.
In the following general election in 1968 Ferré ran for
Governor and defeated Luis Negrón Lopez, the candidate of the
Popular Democratic Party (PPD) by a slight margin, ending
Luis Muñoz Marín's PPD's hold on the governor's seat which lasted 20 years.
His work as governor of Puerto Rico included defending the federal minimum wage and granting workers a Christmas bonus. He visited
Puerto Rican troops in
Vietnam. In 1970 his first wife, Lorencita, died at La Fortaleza after being bed-ridden for years. Their daughter,
Rosario Ferré is an acclaimed novelist and writer.
During his governorship, he paid special attention to youth affairs and bringing young Puerto Ricans into public service. He successfully had the Puerto Rico Constitution amended to lower the voting age to 18, strongly supported the New Progressive Party Youth organization as party president, and appointed then-young statehooders such as
Antonio Quiñones Calderon and
Francisco "Pompi" Gonzalez to high-level administration jobs, campaigned for a 26-year-old at large House candidate, nominated a future Senate President, teenager
Kenneth McClintock as Puerto Rico delegate to the 1971
White House Conference on Youth, and strengthened college scholarship programs.
Before the Congress created the
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Ferré had already created Puerto Rico's
Environmental Quality Board, charged with protecting the islands' environment.
In the elections of 1972 he sought re-election but lost to
Rafael Hernández Colón of the PPD by the biggest margin since the PNP's foundation; the PDP had claimed that many corruption scandals (rather minor compared to similar ones in the various administrations following Ferré's) had been overlooked by the Ferré administration. A bloody student strike at the
University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in 1971 had been neutralized by the Puerto Rican police using brute force, something about which Ferré had mixed feelings. Hernández played the youth card in his campaign (when elected he was the youngest Puerto Rican governor ever). All these issues contributed to a PDP win over Ferré in the election.
Ferré remained active in politics and in 1976, he was elected to the
Senate of Puerto Rico. Ferré served as eighth president of the Senate from 1976-1980 and continued serving as senator until 1985.
Years after leaving La Fortaleza, he married Tiody De Jesus, a nurse who later became a physician.
After serving as senator, Ferré continued to be active in politics, especially representing the
United States Republican Party on the island. Between 1989 and 1991, Ferré served with former Governor
Carlos Romero Barceló, former representative
Benny Frankie Cerezo, PNP leader
Kenneth McClintock and former congressional staffer
David Gerken as the New Progressive Party's negotiating team while Congress considered Puerto Rico political status legislation introduced by Senator
J. Bennett Johnston.
Renaissance man
Ferré was also a talented
pianist who recorded several albums of his piano music. On
January 3,
1959 he founded the
Ponce Museum of Art, in his hometown of Ponce. The museum initially displayed 71 paintings from his personal collection and today displays over 3,000 pieces. Among other things, Ferré is credited with having rescued from oblivion the painting
"Flaming June" by the
Victorian painter
Frederic Lord Leighton - purchasing it in
1963, when it was considered "too old fashioned" and getting it prominently displayed at the Ponce Museum of Art.
"El Centro de Bellas Artes", the center for performing arts in
Santurce,
Puerto Rico also bears his name, as well as the main highway connecting San Juan and Ponce. He also assisted in the creation of the
Casals Festival (
Pablo Casals and Ferré were cousins) and the
Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He was a member of
Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity. As a sportsman, Ferré practiced fencing, and is honored annually with the "Campeonato Nacional de Esgrima" in Puerto Rico.
His philanthropic deeds and defense for
democracy earned him the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President
George H. W. Bush on
November 18,
1991.
Death and legacy
On
September 29,
2003, Ferré was hospitalized with a
urinary tract infection and underwent surgery for an
intestinal blockage on
October 1. While in the hospital he developed
pneumonia before finally succumbing to
respiratory failure on the morning of
October 21,
2003. He was 99 years old, three and a half months shy of his 100th birthday.
His body laid in state in Puerto Rico's capitol building in San Juan, then transported to his museum in Ponce, before being taken for a state funeral and burial nearby. His funeral and ceremonies honoring him were attended by numerous politicians. Former U.S. President and friend,
George H. W. Bush, visited his tomb soon after (Ferré was instrumental in saving the life of one of Bush's friends once, providing for emergency medical assistance to him; Bush never forgot the favor).
Among the numerous awards that were bestowed on Luis A. Ferré was the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor which was also subsequently bestowed on his sister
Sor Isolina Ferre. The renowned sculptor
Tomás Batista was also commissioned to make a bust of Ferré, which is exhibited in the
Ponce Museum of Art. Another
Tomás Batista bust of him was unveiled by his widow, Tiody, Senate President
Kenneth McClintock and Senate Vice President
Orlando Parga in February, 2008 at the
Senate of Puerto Rico's Hall of Governors.
Loved by his copartisans
Any time Don Luis showed to a NPP meeting he was received by his followers with this chant:
"Ferré...papa...queremos estadidad, Ferré...papa...queremos estadidad"
It means: "Ferré...dad..we want statehood!
Further Information
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