Alfonso López Michelsen held public office at a time when the terms of that office were themselves being contested.
The record lists Alfonso López Michelsen as 32 President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978.
Alfonso López Michelsen was born at Bogotá in 1913. His recorded nationality is Colombia. He was educated at Our Lady of the Rosary University.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, mass movements, total war and the collapse of empires reshaped what a political career could be.
The record of office reads: President of Colombia (1974–1978) and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.
His political affiliation is recorded as Colombian Liberal Party.
Power is judged twice: once by contemporaries who felt it, and again by historians who did not.
Formal honours included the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1976), Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru, Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion and Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1969).
That the career was made in Colombia is not incidental: the institutions available, the franchise, and the constraints of the moment all shaped what could be attempted.
Alfonso López Michelsen died in 2007, aged 94. The assessment continues, as it does for anyone who held power - which is the ordinary fate of a political life.
Achievements
- President of Colombia (1974–1978)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia
- Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic — 1976
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru
- Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic — 1969
- Educated at Our Lady of the Rosary University
