Tatarendy Ysyry

Tatarendy Ysyry (1847-1932) was a Ta'arohan writer, political scientist, economist, and statesman who served as Minister-Chancellor of Ta'aroha from 1919 until his death in 1932. During his leadership, he played a key role in Amapytu Ubirata and his Militarists' rise to power leading up to 1932 when, after a confrontation between the two, Ubirata began a coup that resulted in Ysyry's death. A member of Ta'aroha's privileged class with a PhD on the implications of nationalizing the National Railway system, Ysyry entered politics in the 1880s and was appointed to the National Senate in 1884. Ysyry took office as Minister-Chancellor shortly after Ta'aroha's defeat against Riyata in the First World War, during a time of great national depression. Shortly after he took office, he was confronted by an economic crisis caused by rapid inflation and spiking unemployment. Ysyry responded with a tightening of credit and a rollback of all wage and salary increases. These policies increased unemployment and cost Ysyry a good deal of popularity.

Upon twice dissolving the National Senate in 1930, Ysyry made a deal with Amapytu Ubirata to share power in government. Ubirata was an increasingly popular figure in politics, especially among nationalists, and Ysyry hoped that he could control Ubirata's worst impulses. In response to growing political instability, he signed the Emergency Empowerment Act of 1931 which gave the government expansive emergency powers. Ironically for Ysyry, he would be deposed via coup d'etat a year later by Ubirata following a disagreement between the two on the place of the military in government, and the Emergency Empowerment Act would serve as the basis of military government in Ta'aroha until 1998. Ysyey remains a controversial figure in Ta'arohan history, as historians debate whether he was the "last bulwark of the old republic' or 'the republic's undertaker,' or even both. Scholars are divided over how much choice he truly had in making his reforms during Ta'aroha's growing economic, social, and political instability at the time.  While he intended to protect the republic's government, his policies, notably his use of emergency powers, also contributed to the demise of the republic during his leadership.