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Street Wise
Avenida José Pardo Named for Aristocrat Twice Elected President of Peru
By James Rudolph

José Pardo y Barreda was the son of Peru's first elected civilian president, Manuel Pardo. Manuel's election in 1872 inaugurated a relatively stable period in Peru's political history commonly known as the “Aristocratic Republic.” This period of mostly civilian, constitutional rule ended in 1919 with a coup d'etat that overthrew his son, José Pardo.

Manuel also founded Peru's first civilian political party, appropriately known as the Civilista Party, while his son reigned over its decline almost a half-century later. The Civilistas represented Peru's turn-of-the-century oligarchy of Lima business and exporting interests. Pardo family business interests were diversified into sugar, banking, insurance, real estate and manufacturing.

José Pardo was twice elected president, serving from 1904 to 1908 and again from 1915 to 1919. He is best remembered for having improved the administration of government in a number of areas, but especially in education and culture. During his first term, responsibility for primary and secondary education was transferred from the local to the national government level, and government education budget levels were increased 2 ½-fold. Legislation was introduced that made education free and obligatory in haciendas, mines, and in all but the smallest of rural towns. To staff the new public schools, Pardo oversaw the reorganization and expansion of teacher education.

José Pardo was also a great promoter of the arts: the Peruvian National Academy of History, the School of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Music and the National History Museum were all founded during his first term in office.

Pardo's second term coincided with a period of world-wide turmoil in the wake of World War I. Peru was not spared. The University Reform Movement that swept Latin America in 1918 led students at San Marcos University in Lima to demand representation in university administration, while increasingly militant labor unions organized Peru's first successful general strike in January 1919. The May 1919 elections were held against this backdrop of noisy, violent protest, and José Pardo was overthrown just prior to the end of his term in the wake of flawed elections. The military installed the presumed victor, Augusto B. Leguía, who then ruled as a dictator for the next eleven years, longer than any other president in Peruvian history.

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