SARMIENTO, DOMINGO FAUSTINO Argentine educator, author, journalist and president of the repub lic, was born in San Juan de la Frontera on Feb. 14, 181i. He had little formal education and at an early age, because of his political opinions, took refuge in Chile, where he earned a precarious liveli hood. In 1836 he returned to San Juan and was imprisoned for propaganda, but escaped to Chile in 1839 and engaged in journal ism, editing El Mercurio of Valparaiso and founding El Nacional in Santiago. In 1841 he went back to Argentina to join the resist ance to the dictator Rosas, but perceiving it to be useless, re turned to Chile, where he added politics to journalism, founded the first Chilean normal school, was a member of the faculty of the university and waged violent polemics in behalf of liberal government and public instruction. His interest in public educa tion was intense and in 1846 led him to make a several years' visit to Europe, Africa and the United States to study educational methods. In 1852 Gen. Urquiza's rebellion against Rosas drew him once more to Argentina and on Feb. 3, 1852, he assisted in overthrowing the dictator at the battle of Monte Caseros. Un willing, however, to acknowledge Urquiza's political domination, he withdrew to Chile, but in 1856 reappeared in Buenos Aires, thrust himself into the journalistic arena and commenced a far-sighted campaign for public education. Elected governor of San Juan in 1862, while representing Buenos Aires in the national senate, he surrendered this position in 1864 to become minister to Chile and Peru and, in 1865, to the United States. While there he was elected president of Argentina for the term Oct. 12, 1868, to Oct. 12, 1874. As president he maintained political, economic and social stability, successfully terminated the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay (1865-70) and completely reorganized and amplified the national system of public instruction. Soon after
he retired from the presidency he was re-elected to the senate and then appointed director of education in the province of Buenos Aires. He continued to maintain an aggressive journalistic stand on all debatable questions. In 1878 he became editor of El Nacional; was appointed minister of the interior in President Avellaneda's government in 1879 and in 1881 was made national superintendent of schools, in which capacity he was able to carry to its logical conclusion much of his long campaign for universal education. He died in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Sept. I I, 1888. In the first instance an educator, Sarmiento achieved fame also as an author. His complete works fill 52 volumes, and Facundo 6 la civilization y la barbarie a portrait of Argentina in the epoch of Rosas, is the best known work in Argentina's literature and has been frequently translated. Notable also are : Recuerdos de provincias (Santiago de Chile, 1850), Viajes (Santiago, 1849), Vida de Lincoln (New York, 1866), Las escuelas: base de la pros peridad y de la reptiblica en los Estados Unidos (New York, r866).
See J. G. Guerra, Sarmiento su vida y sus obras (Santiago de Chile, 1901) ; J. P. Paz Soldan, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (Buenos Aires, '910 ; A. Coester, The Literary History of Spanish America (New York, 1916) ; R. Blanco-Fombona, Grandes escritores de America (Madrid, 1917) ; Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada (Madrid, 1927).
(W. B. P.)