The administration of the Guatemalan president Juan José Arévalo (1904-1990) was marked by significant social welfare legislation, Communist infiltration of labor unions, and friction with the United States.

Juan José Arévalo was born Sept. 10, 1904, in Taxisco to Mariano Arévalo, a farmer and cattle rancher, and Elena Bermejo, a schoolteacher. His early schooling was in Guatemala City; later he won an Argentine government scholarship to study at the University of La Plata, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1934. While in Argentina he married Elisa Martinez, a teacher. After obtaining his degree he became a minor official in the Guatemalan ministry of education, traveled in Europe, and eventually returned to Argentina, where he taught in several universities and wrote books on pedagogy.

When a revolution in 1944 toppled President Jorge Ubico, Arévalo returned to Guatemala and became a presidential...