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Teodoro Moscoso
and Puerto Rico's Operation Bootstrap
by A. W. Maldonado
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A. W. Maldonado tells the story of Puerto Rico's extraordinary
climb from poverty to economic success. Operation Bootstrap, a
program conceived, promoted, and implemented by Teodoro Moscoso
(1910-1992), succeeded in attracting worldwide capital investment
that by the mid-1950s had transformed the island from an economic
backwater into a bustling industrial society. Though much of the
credit went to Puerto Rico's governor, Luis Muñoz Marín,
Maldonado focuses on Moscoso to describe how and why the economic
miracle took place.
Moscoso was deeply involved in all aspects of the Puerto Rican
economy and culture, and Maldonado follows his relationships and
battles on a number of fronts, from his initial differences with
Rexford Tugwell, the last American governor of the island, to
conflicts with Governor Muñoz, who was constantly concerned that
Moscoso was pushing change too quickly. In the worlds of business
and culture, Maldonado shows how Moscoso employed advertising
guru David Ogilvy to propagate the image of a people engaged in a
cultural renaissance. He also highlights Moscoso's decisive
actions at critical junctures (such as his success in pushing tax
exemptions and tourism in the late 1940s) and his personal
persuasiveness, as with Pablo Casals, who at the age of eighty
was persuaded to establish his Casals Festival at San Juan.
Maldonado shows that Moscoso was the architect of the
"economic miracle" that economists and presidents
believed could not happen in Puerto Rico. His account sheds new
light on the man who provided U.S. administrations with a
democratic success story to counter the allure of the Cuban
revolution and who was called on by President John F. Kennedy to
organize and head the Alliance for Progress.
A. W. Maldonado, a journalist in Puerto Rico for
37 years, is a former editor of El Mundo and El
Reportero and currently writes a column for the San Juan
Star. His articles have appeared in numerous U.S.
publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles
Times, Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, and
The Nation.
1997. 280 pp. 6 X 9.
16 b&w photographs,
notes, bibliography, index.
ISBN 0-8130-1501-4
Cloth, $55.00
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"... not just a good biography on Moscoso's adult life. More accurately, this is an insightful study on the diverse roles he played as a political actor inside and outside Puerto Rico from the early 1940s to the late
1970s. Maldonado's work is a balanced piefe of research and political
reflection. ...a well written account about a Puerto Rican figure who may be remembered as the Promethean hero of the island's colonial modernization."--Latino Review of Books
"This is a beautifully written and magnificently researched book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in Puerto Rico's recent past. . . . the book seamlessly combines biography, history, economics, the ins and outs of political bargaining in San Juan and Washington, and just enough gossip to whet anyone's appetite. . . Maldonado . . . has told the story of Puerto Rico's economic transformation through the life of one man, and has done so with sympathy for Moscoso's vision. Highly recommended."--Choice
"Fascinating.
. . . [Maldonado's] extensive interviews of Moscoso are unique
and help make this a highly original work. . . . He deserves this
amount of attention as the man who, next to Luis Muñoz, was the
dominant figure in the Puerto Rico renaissance of the
1950s."--Thomas L. Hughes, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace
"Maldonado does a superb job in presenting Teodoro Moscoso's
role generally and the decisive actions he took at critical
junctures in particular."--Rafael de Jesús Toro, dean of
business administration, Interamerican University of Puerto Rico,
and professor of economics, University of Puerto Rico
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