Eduardo Dato Spanish politician, lawyer Date of Birth: 12.08.1856 Country: Spain

1. Biography of Eduardo Dato
2. Early Life and Political Career
3. Ministerial Positions and Presidency
4. Assassination and Legacy

Biography of Eduardo Dato

Eduardo Dato was a Spanish politician and lawyer who held various positions, including Minister of Justice, Navy, and Governorship, as well as President of the Cortes. He was born in La Coruña, Spain. His father, Carlos Dato-i-Granados, was the son of Carlos Dato Camacho-i-Marin and Cayetana Rupert Granados-i-Garcia de Vivankos-i-Acosta. Eduardo's mother, Rosa Lorenza Iradier-e-Arse, was originally from Galicia.

Early Life and Political Career

At a young age, Eduardo moved with his family to Madrid. He showed an interest in politics and joined the conservative party. After obtaining a law degree in 1875, he opened a law office two years later. He was first elected to the Spanish parliament in 1883. In 1892, he became the Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior. Over the next fifteen years, he held positions as Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice.

Ministerial Positions and Presidency

From 1899 to 1900, Dato served as the Minister of Governance of Spain. In 1902-03 and 1914-15, he was the Minister of Justice. In 1920-21, he held the position of Minister of the Navy. From May 13, 1907, to April 14, 1910, he served as the President of the Congress of Deputies of the Spanish Cortes.

Assassination and Legacy

In 1907, Dato ran for the position of mayor of Madrid and won the election. In 1910, he was elected to the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. In 1913, he became the Prime Minister of Spain for the first time. He resigned in 1915 but returned to lead a new cabinet in 1917. From March 22 to November 9, 1918, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He then moved to the position of State Minister, which he held until 1920, before receiving his third offer to lead the government. His last term as Prime Minister was marked by bloody repressions against trade unions, accompanied by calls for a "firm hand." The Spanish law enforcement agencies borrowed the "Ley de fugas" from the practices of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, an extrajudicial execution that simulated shooting to kill during alleged attempts to escape during the transfer from one place of detention to another. Using this technique (later widely practiced by Franco and German fascists), the authorities in Barcelona executed more than a hundred trade union activists without trial.

As a response to the ongoing terror and extrajudicial executions, Spanish anarchists prepared a terrorist act. On March 8, 1921, in Madrid, in front of the Gate of Alcalá (now Independence Square), a car carrying Dato was intercepted by a motorcycle with a sidecar. Three Catalan anarchists were in the vehicle: Pedro Mateu, Ramon Casanellas, and Lluís Nicolau. They opened fire on the car, firing 22 shots, mostly at the victim's head.

In 1912, nine years before this incident, anarchists had killed another Spanish head of government, José Canalejas, in Puerta del Sol Square.

The main assassin, Pedro Mateu, remained in Madrid and was arrested a few days later based on witness testimonies. Luis Nicolau fled to Berlin but was extradited back to Spain.

The court sentenced the murderers to death, but in 1924, dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. In 1931, Mateu was released from prison under an amnesty declared by the Second Republic.

During the Spanish Civil War, Pedro Mateu fought on the side of the Durruiti Column, a key figure among Spanish anarchists. As the organizer of many terrorist acts worldwide, Durruiti had met with N. Makhno, an anarchist, in Paris in the 1920s. After the war, Pedro Mateu fled to France, where he continued his political activities. He died in Cordes-sur-Ciel, France, in 1982, at the age of 87.

Dato was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (in 1913, he became its Vice President), a member of the International Institute of Law, an administrator of the banking firm Banco Hipotecario, the President of the National Institute of Social Security, a member of the Council of National Education, and the Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation.

Upon Eduardo Dato-i-Iradiera's death, King Alfonso XIII of Spain elevated his widow to the rank of 1st Duchess of Dato. Eduardo Dato received several honors, including the Order of Charles III with a chain (one of 25 people to receive this highest degree of the order), the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and the Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ as the 340th knight of the order.