View source for 1939 Salvadoran presidential election

{{short description|none}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name     = {{nowrap|1939 Salvadoran presidential election}}
| country           = El Salvador
| type              = presidential
| vote_type         = Legislative
| previous_election = 1935 Salvadoran presidential election
| previous_year     = 1935
| election_date     = 21 January 1939
| next_election     = 1944 Salvadoran presidential election
| next_year         = 1944
| registered        = 
| turnout           = 
<!--        person 1        -->
| image1            = General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, President of El Salvador.jpg
| candidate1        = '''[[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]'''
| party1            = National Pro Patria Party
| popular_vote1     = '''42'''
| percentage1       = '''100.00%'''
<!-- bottom -->
| title             = [[President of El Salvador|President]]
| before_election   = [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]
| before_party      = National Pro Patria Party
| after_election    = [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]
| after_party       = National Pro Patria Party
}}

Presidential elections were held in [[El Salvador]] on 21 January 1939. The election was [[Indirect election|indirect]] rather than being held through a [[popular vote]]. The [[Legislative Assembly of El Salvador|National Constitutional Assembly]] elected General [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]], the incumbent [[president of El Salvador]], to a third presidential term that would last from 1939 to 1945. He was the only candidate and won unopposed.

Martínez was constitutionally ineligible to run for re-election in 1939, so the year prior, he and the [[National Pro Patria Party]] (PNPP) held [[open cabildo]]s across El Salvador and reported that the citizenry overwhelmingly supported amending the constitution to allow Martínez to be re-elected. Some politicians and military officers opposed Martínez's re-election. They spread propaganda calling for his resignation and even attempted a coup in January 1939. On 20 January 1939, the National Constitutional Assembly approved a new constitution, and the following day, it unanimously re-elected Martínez to a six-year term.

== Background ==

General [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]] became [[President of El Salvador]] in December 1931 after a [[1931 Salvadoran coup d'état|coup d'état]] overthrew President [[Arturo Araujo]].{{sfn|Ching|1997|pp=363–364}} Martínez solidified his position in January 1932 after suppressing an uprising and killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people in mass killings known as {{lang|es|[[La Matanza]]}}.{{sfn|Tulchin|Bland|1992|p=167}} Martínez won the [[1935 Salvadoran presidential election|1935 presidential election]] unopposed with 329,555 on 77 percent turnout.{{sfn|Ching|1997|pp=398–399}}

== Election campaign ==

{{Quote box
| align  = right
| width  = 325px
| quote  = "Pro-Patria Delegation was opened last night amidst fevered regalia. Last night conferences were held in the central plaza and a reception was given in the Central Hotel. Today the conferences continue with the goal of holding the public session of the {{lang|es|cabildo abierto}}. In unison the citizens agree with out patriotic ideals."
| author = Governor of [[Usulután Department|Usulután]] Antonio Galdámez
| source = 17 July 1938{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=416}}
}}
{{Quote box
| align  = right
| width  = 325px
| quote  = "It is time that the head of this [constitutional] pact be convinced that the devotion to democracy in El Salvador is a tangible fact. General Martínez should not stain our fatherland with fresh blood. He should respect the prevailing Constitution. He should avoid causing the people of El Salvador to remain downtrodden forever."
| author = Civilian-Military Association
| source = 19 September 1938{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=418}}
}}

Ahead of the 1939 election, Martínez decided to be elected by the legislature in an [[indirect election]] instead of through a [[popular vote]] like in 1935. According to historian Erik Ching, Martínez chose to do this as he was "aware of growing opposition to his political monopoly".{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=417}} In order to be re-elected, however, Martínez had to amend the 1886 constitution as it prohibited re-election.{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=415}}

In July 1938, [[open cabildo]]s were held across El Salvador where citizens would meet at town halls and approve proposed constitutional changes. The [[National Pro Patria Party]] (PNPP), Martínez's political party, organized the meetings and reported that the citizenry was in unanimous support of the proposed changes despite no voting actually taking place.{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=416}}

While the PNPP reported that Salvadoran citizens overwhelmingly supported the constitutional reforms, there were political leaders that opposed Martínez's re-election. Among them included Sub-Secretary of Public Works Manuel López Harrison, Sub-Secretary of Government Hermógenes Alvarado, Sub-Secretary of Public Instruction David Rosales, and Sub-Secretary of War Colonel Ascencio Menéndez.{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=418}} In October 1938, a so-called "Civilian-Military Association" spread propaganda posters across [[Santa Ana Department|Santa Ana]] calling for Martínez's resignation.{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=417}} In January 1939, Menéndez led an attempted coup against Martínez's government but it failed. The conspirators were exiled to France and Mexico.{{sfn|Ching|1997|pp=414–415}}

The [[Legislative Assembly of El Salvador|National Constitutional Assembly]] approved the new constitution on 20 January 1939.{{sfn|Diario Oficial|1939|p=149}} Most of the new constitutional was identical to the 1886 constitution. One of the most notable differences regards article 92 that mandates that the National Constitutional Assembly would elect the next president and that whoever they elect would be exempted from article 94 that banned re-election. It also increased the lengths of presidential terms from four to six years.{{sfn|Ching|1997|p=415}}

== Results ==

On 21 January 1939, the National Constitutional Assembly convened to elect El Salvador's president for the 1939–1945 term. The assembly unanimously voted to re-elected Martínez as President.{{sfn|Diario Oficial|1939|p=177}}

{{Election results
|cand1=[[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]|party1=[[National Pro Patria Party]]|votes1=42
|electorate=42
|turnout=100.00
|source=Diario Oficial 1939, p. 177
}}

== Aftermath ==

Martínez was inaugurated for his third term on 1 March 1939.{{sfn|Leistenschneider|Leistenschneider|1980|p=190}} Martínez was re-elected by the legislature to another six-year term in [[1944 Salvadoran presidential election|1944]]{{sfn|Olmedo|2023}} but he was forced to resign on 8 May 1944 during the [[Strike of Fallen Arms]], a student protest that opposed his government. Martínez subsequently fled El Salvador on 11 May.{{sfn|Bernal Ramírez|Quijano de Batres|2009|p=121}}

== References ==

{{reflist|22em}}

== Bibliography ==

{{Refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite news|date=23 January 1939|location=[[San Salvador]], El Salvador|title=Asamblea Nacional Constituyente|url=http://abaco.uca.edu.sv/acervo/Diario_Oficial/1939/1939-01.pdf|trans-title=National Constitutional Assembly|work=[[National Press of El Salvador|Diario Oficial]]|language=es|volume=125|issue=17|page=177|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516055704/http://abaco.uca.edu.sv/acervo/Diario_Oficial/1939/1939-01.pdf|archive-date=16 May 2024|access-date=23 August 2025|ref={{harvid|Diario Oficial|1939}}}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Bernal Ramírez|editor-first1=Luis Guillermo|editor-last2=Quijano de Batres|editor-first2=Ana Elia|name-list-style=amp|date=2009|title=Historia 2 El Salvador|trans-title=History 2 El Salvador|url=https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoII_0_.pdf|language=es|series=Historia El Salvador|location=El Salvador|publisher=[[Ministry of Education (El Salvador)|Ministry of Education]]|isbn=9789992363683|access-date=23 August 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016073315/https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoII_0_.pdf|archive-date=16 October 2022|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ching|first1=Erik K.|date=1997|title=From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/304330235|language=en|location=[[Santa Barbara, California]]|publisher=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]]|oclc=39326756|access-date=23 August 2025|id={{ProQuest|304330235}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Leistenschneider|first1=María|last2=Leistenschneider|first2=Freddy|date=1980|title=Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías|trans-title=Governors of El Salvador: Biographies|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/589275475/Gobernantes-de-El-Salvador|language=es|publisher=[[Ministry of the Interior (El Salvador)|Ministry of the Interior]]|oclc=7876291|access-date=23 August 2025|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.revistafactum.com/segundo-mandato-maximiliano/|title=El Segundo Mandato de Maximiliano Hernández Martínez|trans-title=Maximiliano Hernández Martínez's Second Mandate|language=es|date=3 May 2023|access-date=23 August 2025|work=Revista FactUM|first1=Daniel|last1=Olmedo}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Tulchin|editor-first1=Joseph S.|editor-last2=Bland|editor-first2=Gary|name-list-style=amp|date=1992|title=Is There a Transition to Democracy in El Salvador?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okB-QgAACAAJ|language=en|publisher=L. Rienner Publishers|isbn=9781555873103|access-date=23 August 2025}}
{{Refend}}

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[[Category:1939 elections in Central America|El Salvador]]
[[Category:1939 in El Salvador|President]]
[[Category:January 1939 in North America]]
[[Category:Presidential elections in El Salvador]]
[[Category:Single-candidate elections]]