Arturo Alessandri Palma was born in a hacienda to a well-off family of Italian descent (his grandfather had immigrated to Chile from Tuscany, through Buenos Aires). A sickly child, he had grown up some distance south of Santiago, in the Maule region. However, it was far to the north that he would earn his nickname.

After pursuing a law degree, marrying, and spending a few years as the director of the Library of Congress, he ran as a senator for the province of Tarapacá, a mining region deep in the Atacama that had belonged to Bolivia only a few decades prior. The election was particularly nasty, even for the standards of the Parliamentary Republic. Death threats and vandalism could not, however, overcome Arturo's charisma and rhetorical ability. After his victory, Alessandri Palma became known as the Lion of Tarapacá, after a leader of the War of the Pacific.

Arturo was part of the left wing of the Liberal Party, the "aliancistas", so-named for their participation in the Liberal Alliance rather than the conservative Coalition. These two blocs exchanged power throughout the Parliamentary Republic. Arturo was nevertheless on the right wing of the Liberal Alliance, of which the largest party was the Radical Party.

In fact, after the parliamentary elections of 1918 the Radical Party had become the largest in Congress, and the Liberal Alliance held a majority. Juan Luis Sanfuentes, the Coalition president, was forced to allow them into government. Arturo was appointed as Minister of the Interior, an important position (deeply involved, among other things, in the electoral process). Alessandri Palma's prospects in the 1920 presidential election, if he chooses to run, seem quite promising.

But Arturo is at a crossroads. He has always supported the working class, and believed his own ruling class has perhaps not offered a fair enough deal to the people of Chile; that a stronger executive should play a role in building more equitable institutions and offering some concessions. But after the large demonstrations of December 1918 he realised that perhaps the working classes wanted to go further, and Arturo Alessandri Palma wondered what his own role in this would be.

Bit brief but I just wanted to make sure I posted something