Alcalá Zamora, Niceto

Alcalá Zamora, Niceto (nēthā`tō älkälä` thämō`rä), 1877–1949, Spanish statesman and president of Spain (1931–36). After holding several cabinet posts under the monarchy, he became a republican and was jailed for his political activity in 1930. He helped lead the successful revolution of 1931 and became first provisional and then constitutional president of the Spanish republic. A middle-of-the-road liberal, he was deposed by the Cortes on a Socialist motion (Apr., 1936) and was succeeded as president by Manuel Azaña. He went into exile first to France and then (1942) to Argentina.

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Alcalá Zamora, Niceto

(born July 6, 1877, Priego, Spain—died Feb. 18, 1949, Buenos Aires, Arg.) Spanish politician. After serving as minister of works (1917) and minister of war (1922), he opposed the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and joined the Republican movement. As leader of the revolutionary committee that successfully demanded the abdication of Alfonso XIII, he became head of the government in 1931 and was elected president of Spain's Second Republic that same year. He tried to moderate the policies of the extremist factions, but he was deposed in 1936 after the election of the Popular Front and went into exile to France and then to Argentina.