Presidential Succession in Ecuador, 1830-1970

Resumen

An article by Professors Richard B. Gray and Frederick R. Kirwin entitled “Presidential Succession in Chile: 1817-1966” and subsequent correspondence with one of the coauthors encouraged me to write a similar study on Ecuador. In researching the available material on the subject I can well appreciate the reasons for the great lack of comparative data on the Latin American presidency and the need for additional studies on this subject. Of the few sources available on Ecuador's presidents no two provide exactly the same information. This pertains to biographical data as well as to time served in the executive office. There is even disagreement as to who served at a given time. Some of these discrepancies are the result of the turbulent events of the first three decades of Ecuador's republican history during which the country attempted to make strides toward the establishment of a national identity.