Person
Ríos, Fernando de los (1879-1949)Other forms
Ronda (Málaga, España) 1879-12-08 - New York 1949-05-31
Spanish law professor, writer, politician, minister, and ambassador.
He was born in Ronda (Málaga) in 1879. His father, José del Río Pinzón, was a soldier stationed in the Philippines and the nephew of the politician Antonio de los Ríos Rosas, and his mother was Fernanda Urruti Rodríguez.Fernando was a distant relative of Francisco Giner de los Ríos, the founder of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE), and of Hermenegildo, his future father-in-law. He married Gloria Giner de los Ríos García, and they had a daughter, Laura de los Ríos Giner, who would later marry Francisco García Lorca.
He completed his high school studies at the Instituto de Córdoba, graduated from the law school of the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1901, and earned a PhD in law from the same university in 1907. He also went abroad to study several times.
Fernando taught at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and was involved with the Centro de Estudios Históricos (1911-1912). In 1911 he was awarded the professorship in Spanish Political Comparative Law at the Universidad de Granada, resigned from this position in 1929 due to his opposition to the Primo de Rivera regime, and returned after the dictator's fall. In 1930 he accepted the professorship in advanced political science and political law at the Universidad de Madrid, a position he held while continuing to give courses and lectures at various universities and academic institutions around the world. After the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime definitively stripped him of his professorship.
De los Ríos had joined the Partido Socialista Obrero Español, the Spanish socialist party, in 1919, and was elected to the Executive Committee the following year. He won a seat in parliament representing Granada and Madrid in the 1919 and 1923 elections, respectively. He was openly critical of Primo de Rivera and his government but received little support from fellow party members, with the exception of Indalecio Prieto. After the unsuccessful uprisings at Jaca and Cuatro Vientos, he spent a a short time in Madrid's Modelo Prison. As a member of the Republican Provisional Government, he served as a member of parliament for Granada during the 1931, 1933 and 1936 legislatures. He also headed different ministries in the Republican era: Justice, Public Education and Fine Arts, and State. He was in Geneva when the Spanish Civil War broke out, and from there he went to Paris to purchase military equipment for Republican forces. From 1936 to 1939, he served as the Spanish ambassador to the United States. He was appointed Minister of State by the exiled Republican government formed in Mexico and led by José Giral, between 1945 and 1946. He remained active on the educational front, teaching at the New School for Social Research and the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science between 1941 and 1942 and doing a lecture tour in Cuba. Fernando passed away in New York in 1949. His remains were taken home to Spain in 1980, where they now rest in Madrid's Civil Cemetery.
Date of the event: 1936 - 1939
Date of the event: 1923 - 1930
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