Eduardo Frei

Eduardo Frei (born Jan. 16, 1911, Santiago, Chile—died Jan. 22, 1982, Santiago) was a Chilean politician and the first Christian Democratic president of Chile (1964–70).

Frei graduated in law in 1933 from the Catholic University of Chile, where he had been president of the National Association of Catholic Students in 1932–33. He served as a delegate to the Congress of Catholic Young People held in Rome in 1934 and helped organize a youth department within the Chilean Conservative Party in 1935. Until 1937 he was the editor of the daily El Tarapacá of the seaport town of Iquique, in which he opposed Marxism. In 1938, disillusioned with the Conservative Party, he joined other youth department leaders to form the National Falange, an antifascist social Christian party. While a professor of labour law at the Catholic University in 1940–45, he was elected president of the Falange in 1941, 1943, and 1945. He served as an innovative and highly competent minister of public works in the coalition cabinets of presidents José Antonio Ríos in 1945–46 and Gabriel González Videla in 1946–49. In 1949 he was elected to the Senate.

In 1957 the Falange joined with the Social Christian Conservatives to form the Christian Democratic Party, which drew its inspiration from the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain and European Christian Democratic movements. Frei placed third as the party’s presidential candidate in 1958, as the party showed increasing strength at the expense of the Conservatives, and by 1964 his presidential candidacy appeared to be the only effective alternative to Marxism. While Salvador Allende, the candidate of the leftist coalition, called for nationalization, Frei offered a moderate program of “Chileanization” of U.S.-owned copper interests as well as economic stabilization and a more equitable distribution of wealth. He won a decisive victory, and in 1965 his party won control of the lower house of Congress. Although he raised expectations of major change, he achieved only limited success as president. His plan for 51 percent Chilean control of copper mining was thought to be still too favourable to U.S. corporate interests. His administration was harassed by labour unrest and persistent inflation. Although Frei’s pursuit of agrarian-reform policies garnered the support of peasants for the Christian Democratic Party, less land was redistributed than originally anticipated. Marked progress was made, however, in expanding educational opportunities for the impoverished.

Unable to succeed himself, Frei stepped down in 1970. He was reelected to the Senate in 1973, shortly before it was dissolved by the military junta led by Augusto Pinochet. Frei had opposed the election of Allende in 1970, but he also energetically criticized Pinochet’s regime. Several weeks after undergoing hernia surgery in late 1981, Frei died, reportedly of an infection. In 2000, however, Frei’s family requested an investigation of his death, alleging that it might have been caused by members of Pinochet’s secret police. A 2009 autopsy revealed traces of poison in Frei’s remains, prompting a judge to rule Frei’s death a homicide. In December 2009 six people were charged in connection with the killing, including three who were linked to Pinochet.

Frei wrote many articles and several books on economics and political subjects throughout his career. His son, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, was the Chilean president from 1994 to 2000 and a presidential candidate in 2009.