Manuel L. Quezon was born in Baler, Tayabas province (now Quezon), Philippines. He fought with the Filipino Nationalists in the Philippine-American War, serving as an aide of Emilio Aguinaldo.
In 1935 Manuel L. Quezon won the Philippine's first national presidential election.
After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II he fled to the United States of America.
Quezon suffered from tuberculosis and died in Saranac Lake, Franklin County, New York. He was initially buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Later his body was re-interred in Manila, at the Manila North Cemetery and then moved to Quezon City within the monument at the Quezon Memorial Circle.