Juan Antonio Ríos

Juan Antonio Ríos Morales (November 10, 1888-June 27, 1946) was president of Chile from 1942 to 1946, during World War II. A member of the Radical Party, he defeated General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in the 1942 election, following the death of president Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

Initially, his government was committed to neutrality during World War II, but diplomatic and especially economic pressure caused him to finally break off relations with the Axis Powers. By doing so, he made Chile eligible for the United States' Lend-Lease program, and obtained loans necessary to help along the that to economic recovery. The close relations that emerged with the United States were, however, problematic for him at home: shortly after the war, in October 1945, his entire cabinet resigned in protest of a state visit he made to Washington D.C. Economically, he faced labor unrest at home, brough about, in large part, by the drop in copper prices worldwide. Faced with failing health, he gave up his presidential powers in January, 1946, to his Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez. He died a few months later, on June 27.