Felisa Rincón de Gautier

Puerto Rican-born politician

• Born: January 9, 1897
• Birthplace: Ceiba, Puerto Rico
• Died: September 16, 1994
• Place of death: San Juan, Puerto Rico

The first female mayor of San Juan, Rincón de Gautier is best known for leading a number of city-wide social reforms and public works. In addition to transforming the city of San Juan, Rincón de Gautier dedicated her political career to social causes such as women’s suffrage, child care programs, and services for the elderly.

Early Life

Felisa Rincón de Gautier (feh-LEE-sah reen-COHN deh GOH-tee-ehr) was born on January 9, 1897, to Rita Marrero Rivera de Rincón, a teacher, and Enrique Rincón Plumey, a lawyer. When she was six years old, her mother gave up teaching to raise a growing family. However, her parents both stressed the importance of education and etiquette for women. As a lawyer and lover of philosophy, Enrique invited artists, politicians, and poets to stay in his home. As a result, Rincón de Gautier and her siblings were familiar with classic texts, which later informed her work in public affairs.

When Rincón de Gautier was eleven years old, her mother died while giving birth to a daughter, Rita. Unable to care for eight children on his own, Enrique asked Rincón de Gautier to drop out of school to care for her siblings and the family home. However, this setback did not hinder Rincón de Gautier’s education. After graduating from high school at a later date, she went on to study pharmacy.

In her early twenties, Rincón de Gautier began to show an interest in politics. In 1917, the passage of the Jones Bill made Puerto Ricans citizens of the United States. This bill and the active women’s suffrage movement in the United States brought an increased interest in women’s suffrage in Puerto Rico. In 1921, when the Nineteenth Amendment granted U.S. women the right to vote, the women’s suffrage movement in Puerto Rico began to gain momentum. Rincón de Gautier was introduced to suffragist Ana Roque while unsure about openly supporting a woman’s right to vote. Inspired by Roque’s words, Rincón de Gautier’s dedication to social reform and improving the status of Puerto Rican women was solidified.

In 1932, when Puerto Rican women were granted the right to vote, Rincón de Gautier not only defied her father by registering to vote but also by becoming actively involved in politics as a representative for the Liberal Party. Her first political action was registering women to vote and to join the party.

As Rincón de Gautier’s involvement in politics taught her more about the hardships of women and the poor, she decided that she wanted to help. In 1934, she moved to New York City, where she learned the art of fashion design and mastered her sewing skills. Rincón de Gautier brought these skills back to Puerto Rico where she opened a dress shop called Rincón de Gautier’s Style Shop and employed Puerto Rican women who otherwise would have worked in sweatshops.

Life’s Work

While managing her dress shop, Rincón de Gautier continued her political activism by working for the Liberal Party. The party asked her to run for the senate in 1936, but because of her father’s protests, she turned down the offer. In 1938, Rincón de Gautier and her political counterparts left the Liberal Party over their diverging perspectives and formed the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP was much more focused on mobilizing the working class and poor, which would later inform Rincón de Gautier’s social reform projects during her twenty-two years as mayor of San Juan.

While working for the PDP, Rincón de Gautier met and fell in love with the party’s secretary, Jenaro Gautier. In March of 1940, she and Jenaro were married and instead of taking a honeymoon they stayed in San Juan, moving into the PDP’s offices to work on the upcoming elections. That same year, Rincón de Gautier was asked to be the president of the San Juan Committee of the Popular Democratic Party. In this position, she was able to gain political power that was rarely granted to women.

In 1944, Rincón de Gautier was asked to run for mayor of San Juan but declined because of Jenaro’s disapproval. However, in 1946, after the resignation of the current mayor, Rincón de Gautier was asked again and this time she accepted the position. Her first act as mayor would lay the foundation for her many successful public works that would win San Juan the title of All-American City in 1959. Her first day as mayor, Rincón de Gautier visited the Public Works Department on a mission to clean up the slums of San Juan. In addition to cleaning up the city, she created a Public Housing Authority to decrease homelessness. In her twenty-two years as mayor, she initiated the construction of schools, hospitals, and sanitation facilities, and created new programs to help underprivileged people.

Rincón de Gautier was responsible for increasing government accessibility to the people. In her first term, Rincón de Gautier opened City Hall to the public on Wednesdays. During that time, any resident of San Juan could visit City Hall and share complaints in an open forum. Rincón de Gautier’s openness with the public earned her the familiar title Doña Fela and did not stop with the forums. After two years in office, she hosted a large party with gifts for the underprivileged children of San Juan on the Feast of the Three Kings (January 6). Later, she would become widely known for flying in a planeload of snow each year for children’s Christmas parties.

During her twenty-two years as mayor, Rincón de Gautier traveled widely on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. She was awarded many honors, including the Woman of the Americas award given by the United Women of America. Beginning in 1960, Rincón de Gautier’s political opponents organized negative campaigns and accusations in order to oust her from office. Wearied by these campaigns and accusations that resulted in a politically charged court trial, she retired in 1968.

Rincón de Gautier’s political work did not end when she retired. Until she was ninety-five years old, she remained a member of the U.S. Democratic National Committee, serving as a delegate at national conventions. In 1994, Rincón de Gautier suffered a heart attack and died in a San Juan nursing home.

Significance

During a time when women around the world were discouraged and often banned from political leadership, Rincón de Gautier’s successful political career paved the way for other female Puerto Rican political leaders. Beloved by her followers and the people of San Juan, Rincón de Gautier revolutionized city government and advanced the city of San Juan. In addition, her commitment to helping the underprivileged and reforming government resulted in the dedication of a Felisa Rincón de Gautier Museum and Foundation in San Juan and a Felisa Rincón de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy in New York City.

Bibliography

“Felisa Rincón de Gautier.” In Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Vicki L. Ruíz and Virginia Sánchez Korrol. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. Succinct but thorough biography of Rincón de Gautier, covering her life and influence on Puerto Rican politics and women’s rights.

Gruber, Ruth. Felisa Rincón de Gautier: The Mayor of San Juan. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972. The first extensive biography on Rincón de Gautier, this book includes details on her public and personal lives.

LaCossit, Henry. “The Mayor Wears Flowers in Her Hair.” Saturday Evening Post 226, no. 47. (May, 1954): 38-169. While slightly dated, this article not only provides biographical details about Rincón de Gautier but also provides insight to her public works and social reforms as they were happening.

Norris, Marianna. Dona Felisa: A Biography of the Mayor of San Juan. New York: Donn, Mead, 1969. While written for a juvenile audience, this book captures the influence Rincón de Gautier’s social reform works had on the citizens of San Juan.