In , for a few weeks he served as interim president and later was elected to the presidency for two terms, from until and from to Batlle family are some of the most prominent members of the Colorado Party. He was the son of former President Lorenzo Batlle y Grau. Batlle used his newspaper as a political platform for criticizing his opponents and promoting his reformist agenda.
He served as the President of the Senate of Uruguay from to , and in In Batlle's government forces successfully ended the intermittent Uruguayan Civil War which had persisted for many years, when the opposing National Party leader Aparicio Saravia was killed at the battle of Masoller. Without their leader, Saravia's followers abandoned their fight, starting a period of relative peace.
Uruguay banned crucifixes in hospitals by , and eliminated references to God and the Gospel in public oaths. Divorce laws were also established during this time. He led Uruguay's delegation to the Second Hague Conference and was noted for his peace proposals there. In , Batlle proposed a reorganization of the government which would replace the presidency by a nine-member National Council of Administration , similar to the Swiss Federal Council. During Batlle's second term, he began a new movement and referred to as Batllismo : concerted state action against foreign economic imperialism.
During this time he fought for such things as unemployment compensation , eight-hour workdays , and universal suffrage. As President, Battle introduced a wide range of reforms in areas such as social security and working conditions. All of this brought a great government involvement into the economy. Private monopolies were turned into government monopolies and tariffs were imposed on foreign products, including machinery and raw material imports.
The growth of the meat processing industry stimulated the livestock industry, Uruguay's main source of wealth. Education started a process of great expansion since the mid-to-late 19th century.
