Aguinaldo retired from public life for many years. In 1935, when the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established in preparation for Philippine independence, he ran for president as a member of the National Socialist Party in the 1935 Philippine presidential election but lost by a landslide to Manuel L. Quezon. In 1938, Aguinaldo was quoted to hold anti-Semitic beliefs in his opposition to Quezon's plan to shelter Jews in the Philippines. The two men formally reconciled in 1941, when Quezon moved Flag Day to June 12 to commemorate the proclamation of Philippine independence.