Poncio Salinas

    

The Right Honorable Poncio Salinas OT OES OM ORS PC KON
Salinas in 1927
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sierra
In office July 4, 1939 – December 21, 1946
Monarch	Louis II (until 1945) Louis III (1945–1946)
Deputy	Winslow Denton
Preceded by	Christopher Rioux
Succeeded by	Charles Lyon
In office July 8, 1927 – September 10, 1934
Monarch	Louis II
Deputy	Winslow Denton
Preceded by	Earle Coburn
Succeeded by	Christopher Rioux
Leader of the Democratic-Republican Party
In office October 31, 1926 – December 21, 1946
Preceded by	Clancy Ermert
Succeeded by	Charles Lyon
Leader of the Opposition
In office September 10, 1934 – July 4, 1939
Monarch	Louis II
Preceded by	Christopher Rioux
Succeeded by	Christopher Rioux
In office October 31, 1924 – July 8, 1927
Monarch	Louis II
Preceded by	Clancy Emert
Succeeded by	Charles Rioux
Member of Parliament for Oroville
In office June 13, 1919 – December 21, 1946
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Caesar Alvarez
Personal details
Born	(1887-02-24)February 24, 1887 Gonzales, Central Valley, K.S.
Died	December 24, 1966(1966-12-24) (aged 79) Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, K.S.
Resting place	St. Josephine's Church, Del Monte Monterey, Central Valley, K.S.
Nationality	Sierran
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s)	Rosalia Batel (m. 1921)
Children	4
Religion	Roman Catholic

Poncio Jésus Suarez de Salinas OT OES OM ORS PC KON (February 24, 1887–December 24, 1966) was a Sierran politician and lawyer. He was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sierra from 1927 to 1934 and 1939 to 1946, serving nearly fourteen years in total, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Sierran history. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he represented the constituency of Oroville as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1919 to 1946. Salinas was a leading central figure in the late stages of the Sierran Cultural Revolution by declaring "the New Cultural Supremacy" and became an important leader at the international stage during the Great War and first decade of the Cold War. Under his first and second governments, he implemented his New Pacific Plan, a series of domestic reforms which enlarged the Sierran bureaucracy and welfare state. He retired rom national politics in 1946 and died in 1966. He is consistently regarded as one of the five greatest prime ministers in Sierran history although some of his actions and policies have been subject to criticism and controversy.

Salinas was born in Gonzales, Central Valley to a working-class Mexican Sierran family of grape farmers. He attended Mulholland University and Stanford School of Law, and practiced law in San Francisco City where he specialized on labor rights. He was elected as MP in 1919 as a Democratic-Republican backbencher. He later served on the House Committees on Agriculture and Labor and Commerce and became a shadow minister for labor and commerce for Democratic-Republican leader Clancy Ermert where he championed agricultural land reforms, increased government spending, and subsidies for farmers.

In 1926, he won the Democratic-Republican leadership election. He and his party challenged the massively unpopular Coburn Government, which had intensified the revolutionary fervor of the Sierran Cultural Revolution. In 1927, Salinas won a plurality in the House but was forced to enter a coalition government with the Reformed Republicans. The Reformed Republicans had dropped their nativist and anti-revolution stance following the political eviction and disgrace of Prime Minister Hiram Johnson, and agreed to support Salinas and his government if he implemented their economic policies. He drafted the New Pacific Plan which proposed massive reforms which targeted the economy, labor law, social programs, business regulatory laws, and other aspects of society. In 1929, the Great Depression hit Sierra and Salinas pushed for larger-scale aid and relief programs. The Royalists under party leader Christopher Rioux and a Royalist-controlled Senate frustrated Salinas' ability to enact such policies, and his coalition government suffered partisan disagreement, which lead to Salinas' defeat in the 1934 election along with the fall of Tondo to the Empire of Japan during fighting in the Pacific theater of the Great War. As the Leader of the Opposition, he worked to reunite a divided party and attacked Roux's reversal of his New Pacific Plan policies.

Salinas would be re-elected prime minister in 1939 running on a campaing focusong on post-war reconstruction, supporting labor unions, restoring the strength and integrity to Sierra's democratic institutions, and rebuilding the nation from the devestating effects of the First World War. Sierra's defeat in the war along with Rioux's controversial handeling of the war effort and poor domestic policies helped lead Salinas and the Democratic-Republican Party to victory. Salinas would spend his second premiership on rebuilding Sierra's infrastructure, modernizing its armed forces, rebuilding its global military power and preventing the further spread of the United Commonwealth and its influence by maintaining close ties with Sierra's war-time allies in both the Americas and in Europe. Salinas would help Sierra rebuild during the Post-war period and is credited to rebuilding its prestige and global image along with improving on civil rights along with a strong and relatively popular domestic policy which included improving access to healthcare and increasing spending on education and social services to alleviate poverty caused by the war. Salinas retired a year after the war due to declining health and was succeeded by his deputy, Charles Lyon.

Early life, education, and marriage

Poncio Jésus Suarez de Salinas was born in Gonzales, Central Valley on February 24, 1887. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Poncio Suarez, who in turn, was named after Pontius Pilate. His grandparents emigrated from Mexico during the Reform War in 1860 and settled in California as agricultural workers in the Californian Great Valley. His grandfather made a successful living after he established a local fruit picking business. Poncio Suarez fathered nine children, of whom Salina's father, Caesario, was the youngest son. Caesario met Salina's mother, Rosita Murillo Lopez, who crossed into California as a child with her mother shortly after the Mexican-American War. Salinas' father and uncles were drafted into the Sierran Royal Army during the Sierran Civil War and saw action against the Republican forces. Salinas' uncles were executed as prisoners of war while Caesario Suarez was able to escape and returned back to friendly territory. His father received decorations and a lifetime pension for his military service.

Salinas was born into an extended family of six children as the middle child. He spoke Spanish at home and learned English at school where Spanish was banned from being spoken. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and received religious instruction from his mother and aunt. He helped with the family business as grape farmers and used his earnings to purchase books from the town's only bookstore. He spent his leisure time reading, playing baseball, and pulling pranks on his neighbors and friends.

Rather than pressure Salinas into taking up the family business one day, his parents encouraged him to study. Salinas' experience with white owners and the local gentry class provided him an awakening on class and race relations in Sierran society. When his father's business began to suffer due to discriminatory laws passed which favored white businesses, Salinas dedicated his goals to become an attorney. His father was later forced to sell the business in 1903, leaving his family at the mercy of other businesses as wage laborers. Since labor unions were highly controversial and largely unprotected at the time, few were willing to go on strike or protest against poor working conditions or policies. Discussion of workers' rights was stigmatized and often associated with Landonism and the Sierran Civil War, a conflict which was still fresh and painful in the minds of the public.

Salinas graduated from high school in 1905 and attended Mulholland University, one of the few racially inclusive liberal arts colleges in the nation at the time. Salinas studied political science and economics. He became close friends with Stephen Halleck, a professor of political science who mentored Salinas on far-reaching subjects which extended beyond politics which included oration, history, literature, and debate. Halleck's liberal worldview left a lasting, seminal impression on Salinas, which according to Joseph Trebek, Salinas' biographer, "laid down an unshakable foundation for a resolute and impassioned man of justice and equality". Following Salinas' graduation from the university, he maintained correspondence with Trebek until the latter's death in 1928. Salinas eulogized in a letter after the news to his wife, "The world lost a genial, virtuous, and conscientious soul today. The world has become much worse now because of it but not even worse because he was here."

Although Salinas benefited greatly from the tutelage of Professor Halleck, his academics were modest and he graduated without any honors or distinctions. Later in his life, Salinas reflected over his time at Mulholland as "time spent well enjoyed but not well spent", as he neglected his studies for examinations for socializing and debating with his colleagues and Halleck. He also developed interest in the Pacific School and participated in protests and demonstrations in support of the Sierran Cultural Revolution. He was a member of Theta Mu Delta, a Mexican Sierran fraternity, and a brother of the Compass and Watch, an undergraduate secret society in Mulholland University.

Party leadership

Election

Main article: 1926 Democratic-Republican Party leadership election

First term as prime minister

Main article: Premiership of Poncio Salinas

Personal life

Although Salinas was a dominating figure in politics, he was reserved in his private life. Salinas was a prolific smoker and was a strong admirer of Cuban cigars. Family members and friends described Salinas as "soft-spoken" and "genial" when he conversed with others. Salinas was a dedicated practitioner of the Pacific School and became well-acquainted in East Asian philosophy and the arts. He devoted considerable free time to studying Sierran Hanzi and spent time refining his own knowledge and fluency in Chinese and Japanese.

Electoral history

Main article: Electoral history of Poncio Salinas

See also

• Cultural depictions of Poncio Salinas
• Liberalism in the Kingdom of Sierra
• Progressivism in the Kingdom of Sierra