Carlos Dávila

Carlos Gregorio Dávila Espinoza (September 15, 1887 – October 19, 1955), was a Chilean political figure, journalist, chairman of the Government Junta of Chile in 1932, and secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1954 until his death in 1955.

Carlos Dávila
Secretary General of the Organization of American States
In office
1954  October 19, 1955
Preceded byAlberto Lleras Camargo
Succeeded byJosé Antonio Mora
Provisional President of Chile
In office
July 8, 1932  September 13, 1932
Preceded byHimself
(Junta government)
Succeeded byBartolomé Blanche
President of Government Junta of Chile
In office
June 16, 1932  July 8, 1932
Preceded byArturo Puga
Succeeded byHimself
(non-Junta government)
Personal details
Born
Carlos Gregorio Dávila Espinoza

(1887-09-15)September 15, 1887
Los Ángeles, Chile
DiedOctober 19, 1955(1955-10-19) (aged 68)
Washington D.C., United States
Political partySocialist Party
Spouses
(m. 1929; died 1941)
    Frances Adams Moore
    (m. 1950)

    Early life

    Dávila was born in Los Ángeles, Chile, to Luis Dávila and Emilia Espinoza. He graduated from the University of Santiago, Chile, (then called School of Arts and Crafts) in 1907. In 1911, he entered law school at the University of Chile, but dropped out three years later to work for newspaper El Mercurio, of Santiago. He left that paper in 1917 to establish La Nación of the same city, which he directed until 1927. In 1932, he founded the Chilean magazine Hoy.

    Political career

    From 1927 to 1931, Dávila served as Chilean ambassador to the United States. In 1929, he received an honorary LL.D. from Columbia University, and another the same year from the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California.

    Socialist Republic of Chile

    Dávila was a member of the Government Junta of Chile that controlled Chile from June 4 to July 8, 1932, serving as president of the Government Junta from June 16. On July 8, Dávila dissolved the Government Junta and assumed power as "Provisional President of Chile", calling new congressional elections. He served as provisional President of Chile until September 13, one of six people during that year to lead the country as President of Chile and/or President of the Government Junta.

    Professor, journalist and international public service

    In 1933, Dávila was visiting professor of international law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under the auspices of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Later he came to the United States and was associated for many years with the Editors Press Service, and acted as correspondent for numerous important South American newspapers. In 1941 he received the Maria Moors Cabot Award from Columbia University for his distinguished journalistic contribution in the service of the Americas. A prolific writer, Dávila is the author of "We of the Americas", published in 1949 and has contributed many analytical studies on politics and economics to leading American publications.

    Dávila served on the Council of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration from 1943 to 1946, and was Chilean representative to the Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee in 1940. In the same year, he became the author of the "Dávila plan", which created the Inter-American Development Commission, which became the Inter-American Council for Integral Development within the Organization of American States, when that body was created in 1948. In 1946, he served as a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

    Having contributed to the founding of the OAS, Dávila was chosen, in August 1954, as its secretary general.

    Personal life

    Dávila's first wife, Herminia Arrate de Dávila, died in Chile in 1941, and Dávila returned to the United States with their two daughters, Luz and Paz. In 1950, he remarried, this time to Frances Adams Moore of Massachusetts, a widow with a daughter, Dolly, by her first husband.

    Dávila died on 19 October 1955, 14 months into his service as secretary general of the Organization of American States.

    References

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