Giral Pereyra, José

Born Oct. 22, 1879, in Santiago de Cuba; died Dec. 23, 1962, in Mexico. Spanish politician; scholar and chemist.

Giral Pereyra was a professor at the universities of Salamanca and Madrid and a member of the Royal National Academy of Medicine. In 1930 he and M. Azaña founded the Republican Action Party, which was later reorganized as the Left Republican Party. From 1931 to 1933, Giral Pereyra was minister of the navy. During the National Revolutionary War (1936–39), he served as both prime minister and minister of foreign affairs; he occupied the former post from July to September 1936 and the latter in 1937 and 1938.

After the defeat of the republic of 1939, Giral Pereyra emigrated. From 1945 to January 1947 he was prime minister of the republican government-in-exile. Giral Pereyra took part in the peace movement.