government of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. He was chosen by the Popular Front coalition of left-wing parties and trade unions as its candidate in the 1938 Chilean presidential election, where he narrowly defeated right-wing candidate of the Liberal-Conservative coalition by 4,111 votes. Presidency Aguirre Cerda assumed his duties as president on December 25, 1938, under the slogan "Gobernar es educar" (to govern is to educate). As a teacher, his priority in government was education. As such, he promoted the development of the technical-industrial schools as a means to promote the formation of technicians for the nascent industrialization of the country. He also created thousands of new regular schools and encouraged the growth of the university system to cover the whole of the country. Aguirre's government also redistributed some land, encouraged the formation of agricultural settlements, built low-cost housing and schools, and integrated the Marxist parties into the political system. During his first year he had to face military opposition to his plans, which boiled over with the so-called Ariostazo. He also promoted and campaigned for a Nobel prize for Gabriela Mistral, which only came to fruition under his successor, Juan Antonio Ríos. On the economic side, and prompted in part by the devastating earthquake of 1939, he created the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción - CORFO) to encourage with subsidies and direct investments an ambitious program of import substitution industrialization. This was the basis for the industrialization of Chile. From there sprung the steel, manufacturing and sugar industries. In 1941, due to his rapidly escalating illness, he appointed his Minister of the Interior Jerónimo Méndez as vice-president to succeed him. He died soon after on November 25, 1941, in Santiago, Chile, from tuberculosis. Méndez served as acting president until Juan Antonio Rios, elected on February 1, 1942, took office on April 2. Legacy In the Chilean Antarctic Expedition in 1950–51, the explorers named the Aguirre Passage between Lemaire Island and Danco Coast after Don Pedro Aguirre Cerda. Salvador Allende, one of Aguirre Cerda's close associates and Minister of Health under his presidency, would become president in 1970. See also Economic history of Chile Ariostazo References External links TIME article on the political scene during President Aguirre's first year in power 1879 births 1941 deaths People from Los Andes Province, Chile Chilean people of Basque descent Radical Party of Chile politicians Presidents of Chile Government ministers