José Tamborini

José Pascual Tamborini (February 22, 1886 – September 25, 1955) was an Argentine physician, politician, and presidential candidate.

Life and times José Pascual Tamborini was born in Buenos Aires, in 1886. He enrolled at the public college preparatory school, the National College of Buenos Aires and by 1900, became affiliated with the Radical Civic Union (UCR) - then the nation's leading advocacy group for universal male suffrage. He then headed the school's UCR chapter and published its newsletter.

Tamborini received a medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires and by 1912, headed that city's UCR committee. That year, free and fair elections guaranteed by the landmark Sáenz Peña Law led to the victory of numerous UCR candidates for the Argentine Congress, including Tamborini. Following the election to the presidency of longtime UCR leader Hipólito Yrigoyen in 1916, however, Tamborini aligned himself against what a faction in the UCR viewed as the president's growing personality cult. This opposition was fueled by Yrigoyen's numerous removals of provincial governors, for instance, and soon became known as "anti-personalism." President Alvear named Tamborini Interior Minister (overseeing law enforcement), in 1925. The aging Yrigoyen returned to power in 1928, deeping inter-party divisions; but his 1930 overthrow helped unify the UCR, and Tamborini joined the City Hotel Declaration of April 1931 to that effect. Organizing a massive kick-off rally in front of Congress on December 8, the Democratic Union nominated Tamborini and his fellow political prisoner in 1931: former Congressman Enrique Mosca. The alliance, however, failed to win over several prominent lawmakers opposed the Union's ties to conservative interests. Ambassador Braden's leak of a white paper accusing Perón of fascist ties and his addressing Democratic Union rallies in person backfired, moreover. Perón seized on this to make the election a choice between "Perón or Braden," while prevailing on President Edelmiro Farrell to enact his populist agenda and dismissing Tamborini and Mosca as "the tambourine and the fly." The Democratic Union was defeated by 11%.

Tamborini was unable to return to prominence following his break with less conservative UCR figures during that election. He ran once again for his party's nomination in 1951; but he lost to Congressman Ricardo Balbín. President Perón was overwhelmingly reelected, though on September 19, 1955, he was violently overthrown. The ailing Dr. Tamborini died a week later, at age 69.