Hipólito Irigoyen (ca. 1850-1933) was an Argentine president. As leader of the Radical party, he united the country behind him in opposition to the landholding oligarchy; but unable to cope with Argentina's economic problems, he was deposed by Conservatives.

Hipólito Irigoyen received little formal education but was taken under the protection of his uncle Leandro Alem, in whose office he read law. For some years he worked at a variety of jobs, including an instructorship in a girls' school and minor government posts.

In his youth Irigoyen also dabbled in politics on a local level. When Alem organized the Union Civica in 1890 as a protest movement against the dominant rural-based oligarchy, Irigoyen joined the new group. He also followed Alem 2 years later in converting the group, which had originally sought alliances with elements of the old regime to participate in elections, into the Union...