Juan Antonio Ríos

In 1941, due to his rapidly escalating illness, President Aguirre Cerda appointed his minister of the Interior, Jerónimo Méndez as vice-president and died soon after, on November 25, 1941. A presidential election was called for February 1, 1942. This was the opportunity Ríos had been waiting for and he immediately started to campaign. Nevertheless, two days before the internal primaries, Gabriel González Videla returned to Chile to oppose him for the nomination. The results were too close to call, so a tribunal of honor (electoral commission) was constituted, and Juan Antonio Ríos was finally proclaimed the candidate of the left-wings' coalition. This Democratic Alliance (Spanish: Alianza Democratica) was formed by the Radical Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party, and the Workers' Socialist Party.

The left-wings' coalition was united against a common opponent, General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. Ríos was a member of the conservative wing of the Radical Party and defeated Ibáñez in the 1942 election, portraying himself as a conservative anti-fascist candidate. Ibáñez had the support of Chile's Conservative party, Liberal Party, National Socialist party, Popular Socialist Vanguard and the majority of the independents. Ríos obtained 55.95% of the votes and took office on April 2, 1942.

Even though Ríos had been elected with the support of the Communist party, he refused the direct participation of this party in the government, thus earning their opposition. Ríos' option instead was to appoint "technical experts" and "personal friends" to cabinet and high-level government positions; this policy allowed him to include not only members of his own party, but also from the Conservative and Liberal opposition.

In 1943, Congress approved and Ríos signed the first constitutional reform to the 1925 constitution. This reform gave constitutional rank to the Comptroller General (Spanish: Contraloría General de la República) and limited the power of the President with respect to public expenditures without congressional approval.

In 1944, the Radical Party itself presented to Ríos a serie of propositions which he deemed unacceptable. Those included breaking-off diplomatic relations with Francoist Spain — diplomatic and especially economic pressure had caused him to finally break off relations with the Axis Powers in January 1943 — the recognition of the USSR and a cabinet exclusively composed of Radicals. His refusal to implement the Radical Party's propositions, and the violent repression of riots that took place on Plaza Bulnes in Santiago, leading to several deaths, caused the resignation of all the Radical ministers, leaving the President without a party.

These internal divisions partly explain the right-wing parties success' during the 1945 legislative elections, which were a debacle for the Socialists and the Communists. The Radicals themselves lost a number of seats.

After his return from the United States, and faced with failing health, he transferred his presidential powers to his minister of the Interior Alfredo Duhalde (January 17, 1946) and died of cancer roughly 6 months later, on June 27.

Ríos' administration — continuing the Aguirre Cerda policies — focused on the development of the steel, power and oil industries. To that effect, funds were channeled via the Production Development Corporation (Spanish: Corporación de Fomento de la Producción - CORFO), created under the previous administration.

Thus on January 17 of 1944,[1] it was created the National Electricity Company (Spanish: Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (Endesa)); on June 19 of 1950[2] the National Oil Company (Spanish: Empresa Nacional de Petróleos (ENAP)); and in 1942,[3] the Pacific Steel Company (Spanish: Compañía de Aceros del Pacífico (CAP)), which opened the Huachipato steelworks next to the port of Talcahuano.

Visit to President Harry S. Truman at the White House, October 11, 1945

Up to 1943, Chile and Argentina had declined to sever relations with the Axis powers, and the Chilean election was viewed by many as critical during World War II.[4] A bitter disagreement sprung up between the president and its supporting Democratic Alliance. Initially, Ríos' government was committed to neutrality during the war, but the left-wing parties of his coalition were in favor of an immediate and total rupture with the Axis as well as for the recognition of the USSR, which they saw as their contribution to the world-struggle against fascism. Diplomatic and especially economic pressure from the United States finally caused him to break off relations with the Axis Powers on January 20, 1943; however, he only declared war on Germany and Italy, and while beginning to imprison Japanese nationals did not declare war on Japan until 1945. By doing so, he made Chile eligible for the Lend-Lease program, and obtained the necessary loans to help along the economic recovery, and in 1945, Chile belonged to the victorious nations and had thus gained the right to participate in the postwar international conferences.

President Ríos returned from his state visit and reassumed power on December 3, 1945; but by then he was already terminally ill with cancer. He transferred his presidential powers on January 17, 1946, to his Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Duhalde, who took over as vice-president. Juan Antonio Ríos spent his last days at Villa Paidahue, in La Reina, where he died on June 27, 1946, before the end of his constitutional period.