Editing Luis A. Ferré (section)

===Governor and Senator===
On July 23, 1967, a [[plebiscite]] was held to decide if the people of [[Puerto Rico]] desired to become an independent nation, a state of the United States of America, or continue the [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|commonwealth]] relation established in 1952. The majority of [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Ricans]] opted for the [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|Commonwealth]] option (see [[1967 Puerto Rican status referendum|Puerto Rican status referendums]]). Disagreement within the then pro-statehood party{{which|date=March 2019}}{{vague|date=March 2019}} headed by [[Miguel A. García Méndez]] led Ferré and others to found the [[New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico|New Progressive Party]] (a.k.a., PNP).

In the following general election in 1968, Ferré ran for [[Governor of Puerto Rico|Governor]] and defeated Luis Negrón López, the candidate of the [[Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico|Popular Democratic Party]] (PPD) by a slight margin. The ruling party had split with the creation of the [[People's Party (Puerto Rico)|People's Party]], which ran incumbent PDP-elected Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella as its gubernatorial candidate, ending [[Luis Muñoz Marín]]'s PPD's hold on the governor's seat, which had lasted 20 years.

During Ferré's administration, Puerto Rico was in an economic boom at 7% GDP growth and the unemployment at 10%. His work as governor of Puerto Rico included defending the federal minimum wage and granting workers a Christmas bonus. He visited [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican]] troops in [[Vietnam]]. In 1970, his first wife, Lorencita, died at La Fortaleza after being bed-ridden for years. Their daughter, [[Rosario Ferré]], an acclaimed novelist and writer, stepped into the role of [[First Lady]].

During his governorship, he paid special attention to youth affairs and bringing young Puerto Ricans into public service. He successfully had the Puerto Rico Constitution amended to lower the voting age to 18, strongly supported the New Progressive Party Youth organization as party president, appointed then-young statehooders such as [[Antonio Quiñones Calderón]] and [[Francisco "Pompi" González]] to high-level administration jobs, campaigned for a 26-year-old at large House candidate, nominated a future Senate President and Secretary of State, teenager [[Kenneth McClintock]] as Puerto Rico delegate to the 1971 [[White House Conference on Youth]], and strengthened college scholarship programs.

Before the Congress created the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] in 1971, Ferré had already created Puerto Rico's [[Environmental Quality Board]] in 1970,<ref>[http://www.gobierno.pr/JCA/Inicio/ Inicio] gobierno.pr {{dead link|date=February 2024}}</ref> charged with protecting the islands' environment.

In the elections of 1972 he sought reelection but lost to [[Rafael Hernández Colón]] of the PPD. The PPD had claimed that many corruption scandals had been overlooked by the Ferré administration. A bloody student strike at the [[University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras]] in 1971 had been neutralized by the Puerto Rican police using brute force, something about which Ferré had mixed feelings. Hernández emphasized his youth during the campaign, and became the youngest Puerto Rican governor upon election. All these issues, along with the reunification of the People's Party and the PPD, contributed to a PPD win over Ferré in the election.

Ferré remained active in politics and in 1976, he was elected to the [[Senate of Puerto Rico]]. Ferré served as the eighth president of the Senate from 1977 to 1981 and continued serving as senator until 1985.

Years after leaving La Fortaleza, he married Tiody De Jesús, a nurse who later became a physician.

After serving as senator, Ferré continued to be active in politics, especially representing the [[United States Republican Party]] on the island. Between 1989 and 1991, Ferré served with former Governor [[Carlos Romero Barceló]], former representative [[Benny Frankie Cerezo]], PNP leader [[Kenneth McClintock]] and former congressional staffer [[David Gerken]] as the New Progressive Party's negotiating team while Congress considered Puerto Rico political status legislation introduced by Senator [[J. Bennett Johnston]].