Quezon, Manuel Luis, << KAY sawn, mah NWEHL loo EES >> (1878-1944), was the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth. He served as president from 1935 until his death.
Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina was born on Aug. 19, 1878, in Baler, Luzon. He studied law at the University of Santo Tomas and served as a major in the Spanish-American War. In 1906 and 1907, Quezon served as the governor of the province of Tayabas (later renamed Quezon in Manuel Quezon’s honor). In 1907, Quezon was elected as a member and the majority floor leader of the First Philippine Assembly. From 1909 to 1915, Quezon was Philippine commissioner in the U.S. Congress. From 1916 to 1935, he served as president of the Philippine Senate.
In 1934, the United States Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act (Philippine Independence Act), which established the Commonwealth of the Philippines. The next year, Quezon was elected president. He was reelected president in 1941. In December of that year, Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. The invasion drove Quezon and the government to Corregidor. He escaped by submarine the next February. Quezon headed a Philippine government in exile in the United States until his death on Aug. 1, 1944, in New York state.
See also Philippines, History of the.
