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Documents for "Mexican History: Biographies":
  • Álvarez, Juan 1780-1867, Mexican general of indigenous descent, president of Mexico (1855). He distinguished himself in battle under Morelos y Pavón and was later the first governor of Guerrero. In 1854 he led...
  • Ávila Camacho, Manuel 1897-1955, president of Mexico (1940-46). As a young man, Ávila Camacho joined the revolutionary forces. Later he became brigadier general. Under Lázaro Cárdenas he became (1938) minister of national defense. As president he followed a middle-of-the-road policy based on the agricultural, industrial, and educational reforms begun by Cárdenas. During World...
  • Acuña, Juan de 1658?-1734, Spanish-American administrator, viceroy of New Spain (1722-34), marqués de Casa Fuerte, b. Lima, Peru. After a distinguished career in Spain he was sent to Mexico, where his creole...
  • Alemán, Miguel 1902-83, president of Mexico (1946-52). Son of a revolutionary general, Alemán became a highly successful lawyer and a champion of Mexican labor. He was governor of Veracruz from 1936 to 1940 but...
  • Allende, Ignacio 1779-1811, Mexican revolutionist. He was a captain in the army when he joined the movement against Spanish domination. He played a prominent part in the revolution and after the great defeat at...
  • Arista, Mariano 1802-55, Mexican general and president (1851-53). A royalist in the revolt against Spain, he later joined Agustín de Iturbide. He fought in the Mexican army that tried to put down the Texas revolt...
  • Azanza, Miguel José de 1746-1826, Spanish general and colonial administrator. After brief service in the cabinet of Charles IV, he was sent to the colonies and became viceroy of Mexico (1798-1800). He returned to Spain,...
  • Bustamante, Anastasio 1780-1853, Mexican general and president (1830-32, 1837-41). He served in the royalist army against Hidalgo y Costilla and Morelos y Pavón, but his adherence to the Plan of Iguala in support of...
  • Cárdenas, Lázaro 1895-1970, president of Mexico (1934-40). He joined the revolutionary forces in 1913 and rose to become a general. He was governor (1928-32) of his native state, Michoacán, and held other...
  • Calleja del Rey, Félix María 1750-1826, Spanish general, viceroy of New Spain (1813-16), conde de Calderón. In command of the post of San Luis Potosí when the revolution under Hidalgo y Costilla broke out, he led a large force into the field and defeated Hidalgo at Aculco and at Calderón Bridge and besieged Morelos y Pavón in Cuautla (1812). As viceroy, Calleja continued to repress revolution, and by the time he left Mexico most of the insurrectionists were defeated. After his return to Spain, he held several high...
  • Calles, Plutarco Elías 1877-1945, Mexican statesman, president (1924-28). In 1913 he left schoolteaching to fight with Álvaro Obregón and Venustiano Carranza against Victoriano Huerta. In 1920 he joined Obregón and Adolfo de la Huerta in the rebellion against Carranza. After Obregón's term as president, Calles, who had been a cabinet member, became the presidential nominee. Adolfo de la Huerta, claiming election fraud, revolted...
  • Carlotta Span. Carlota , 1840-1927, empress of Mexico, daughter of Leopold I of Belgium, christened Marie Charlotte Amélie. She married (1857) Maximilian , archduke of Austria and accompanied him when he went to Mexico as emperor (1864). After Napoleon III decided to withdraw the French troops from Mexico and the fate of the empire became apparent,...
  • Carranza, Venustiano 1859-1920, Mexican political leader. While senator from Coahuila, he joined (1910) Francisco I. Madero in the revolution against Porfirio Díaz. When President Madero was overthrown (1913) by Victoriano Huerta , Carranza promptly took the field against Huerta. Fighting in the north, he was joined by other insurgents, notably Álvaro Obregón and Francisco Villa ; Emiliano Zapata led a peon uprising in the south. Huerta was finally forced to resign and Carranza assumed (Aug., 1914) the executive powers. Villa and Zapata refused to recognize Carranza's authority, however,...
  • Colosio Murrieta, Luis Donaldo 1948-94, Mexican politician and government official, b. Magdalena del Kino, Mex. He studied at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and in Austria, returning to Mexico, where he began his political career. A...
  • Comonfort, Ignacio 1812-63, Mexican general and president (1855-58). He was one of the leaders in the Revolution of Ayutla , which in 1855 overthrew Santa Anna and installed Juan Álvarez in the presidency. Comonfort became acting president upon the resignation of Álvarez; with his cabinet, particularly Benito Juárez and Miguel Lerdo de Tejada , he continued the anticlerical liberal program and embodied it in the constitution of 1857. In Dec., 1857, Comonfort, elected under the new constitution, took office as president. The reform...
  • Croix, Carlos Francisco de Croix, marqués de 1699-1786, Spanish colonial administrator, b. Lille, France. As viceroy of New Spain (1766-71), he was a genial, honest, and industrious official, but the real ruler was José de Gálvez , the Visitor-General. Many reforms were instituted; the Jesuits were expelled (1767); and the natives of NW Mexico were subdued in order to open the California frontier. His nephew, Teodoro de Croix, 1730-91, was military commander and provincial governor in Mexico before becoming viceroy of Peru (1784-90). He put into operation reforms in the administration of indigenous peoples that resulted...
  • Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo 1911-79, president of Mexico (1964-70). A lawyer, law professor, and judge, he served in both houses of the federal legislature and was secretary of interior (1958-63). As president, he continued...
  • Díaz, Porfirio 1830-1915, Mexican statesman, a mestizo, christened José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz. He gained prominence by supporting Benito Juárez and the liberals in the War of the Reform and in the war against Emperor Maximilian and the French (1861—67). Defeated by Juárez in the presidential election of 1871, Díaz charged fraud and led a revolt against the government, which was not suppressed until after the inauguration...
  • de la Madrid Hurtado, Miguel 1934-, Mexican public official, president of Mexico (1982-88). As minister of planning and budget in the cabinet of José López Portillo , he was influential in planning the utilization of Mexico's oil wealth to promote economic growth. Known as a conservative technocrat, he was chosen (1981) as the candidate of the ruling...
  • Echeverría Álvarez, Luis 1922-, president of Mexico (1970-76). A lawyer, he was formerly a law professor. As a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary party , he held numerous party and government posts beginning in the 1940s. As secretary of the interior (1964-69), he gained prominence for his stern handling of student demonstrations during the 1968...
  • Fernández de Córdoba, Francisco d. 1518?, Spanish explorer in Mexico. Sailing from Cuba on a slave hunt, he discovered Yucatán in 1517. He died from wounds received in a battle with the Maya. His explorations were furthered by...
  • Fox Quesada, Vicente 1942-, Mexican political leader, president of Mexico (2000-). Raised on a ranch in rural central Mexico's Guanajuato state, he became a successful rancher and business executive. He joined Coca...
  • García Robles, Alfonso 1911-91, Mexican statesman, b. Zamora, Mex. After studying law in Europe, he entered the Mexican foreign service in 1939. He was a delegate to the San Francisco Conference (1945), the birthplace...
  • Garrido Canabal, Tomás 1891-1943, Mexican caudillo , governor of Tabasco (1921-35). A fanatical anticlericalist, he enthusiastically supported Calles 's war against the Cristeros, largely peasant rebels opposed to the enforcement of anticlerical laws. He founded several Fascist organizations that terrorized Roman Catholics. Garrido Canabal was...
  • Guadalupe Victoria 1786?-1843, Mexican general, first president of Mexico (1824-29), whose original name was Manuel Félix Fernández. He joined (1811) the revolution proclaimed by Hidalgo y Costilla, and even after...
  • Guerrero, Vicente 1782-1831, Mexican revolutionist and president (Apr.-Dec., 1829). He fought under the command of Morelos y Pavón , spreading the revolution in the south. Guerrero won victory after victory. When Morelos was defeated and executed, Guerrero continued to wage guerrilla warfare, harassing the royalists. He fought...
  • Guzmán, Nuño de or Núñez Beltrán de Guzmán , d. 1544, Spanish conquistador. After serving as governor of Panuco in NE Mexico, he became president of the first audiencia of New Spain (1528). His notorious rule brought an outcry from the...
  • Herrera, José Joaquín 1792-1854, president of Mexico (1844-45, 1848-51). Rising to power after the collapse of Santa Anna's second presidential administration, he incurred the disfavor of ultraconservatives by...
  • Hidalgo y Costilla, Miguel 1753-1811, Mexican priest and revolutionary, a national hero. A creole intellectual, he was influenced by the French Revolution. As parish priest of the village of Dolores, Hidalgo attempted to...
  • Huerta, Adolfo de la c.1882-1955, Mexican revolutionist and president (May-Dec., 1920). As governor of Sonora, he broke with President Carranza and declared the secession of the state (1920). This was a signal for the successful revolt against Carranza led by Obregón and supported by Calles. After Carranza's murder, de la Huerta was provisional president until Obregón took office by election; during his tenure a settlement was reached with Villa. He was minister of finance under...
  • Huerta, Victoriano 1854-1916, Mexican general and president (1913-14). He served under Porfirio Díaz. After the revolution of Francisco I. Madero (1911) he aided the new president, who, reluctantly, made him (1912) commander of the federal forces. In 1913 he plotted secretly with Madero's enemies, including U.S. ambassador Henry Lane Wilson,...
  • Ibarra, Francisco de 1539?-1575, Spanish conquistador in Mexico. In 1554, after founding Fresnillo , he headed an expedition to the N of Zacatecas. For the next 20 years he explored, founded settlements, and exploited mines in the vast region comprising present-day Durango, Chihuahua, and part of...
  • Iturbide, Agustín de 1783-1824, Mexican revolutionist, emperor of Mexico (1822-23). An officer in the royalist army, he was sympathetic to independence but took no part in the separatist movement led by Miguel Hidalgo...
  • Iturrigaray, José de 1742-1815, Spanish colonial administrator, viceroy of New Spain (1803-8). During his rule, all of Spanish America was disturbed by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the abdication of Ferdinand...
  • Juárez, Benito 1806-72, Mexican liberal statesman and national hero. Revered by Mexicans as one of their greatest political figures, Juárez, with great moral courage and honesty, upheld the civil law and opposed...
  • López Mateos, Adolfo 1910-69, president of Mexico (1958-64). A lawyer, he became active in the government party. He served as senator (1946-52) and as minister of labor (1952-58), during which time he settled more...
  • López Portillo y Pacheco, José 1920-, Mexican political leader and president (1976-82). A lawyer and university professor, he wrote novels and works on political theory. Entering government service in 1959, he held a series of...
  • Lerdo de Tejada, Miguel d. 1861, Mexican liberal statesman, a leader of the Revolution of Ayutla , cabinet member under Juan Álvarez. As minister under Comonfort , he initiated the Ley Lerdo (1856), a law providing for the forced sale of all real property of the Roman Catholic Church. He helped draft the constitution of 1857 and later drew up a law...
  • Lombardo Toledano, Vicente 1894-1968, Mexican labor leader. A successful lawyer, he became (1920) governor of the state of Puebla. In 1921 he joined the Mexican Regional Confederation of Workers (CROM). After the CROM lost...
  • Madero, Francisco Indalecio 1873-1913, Mexican statesman and president (1911-13). A champion of democracy and social reform, he established various humanitarian institutions for the peons on his family's vast estates in...
  • Matamoros, Mariano d. 1814, Mexican revolutionist in the war against Spain. He was, like Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos y Pavón, a priest with liberal political opinions. Much harassed by the...
  • Maximilian 1832-67, emperor of Mexico (1864-67). As the Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, he was denied a share in the imperial government by his reactionary brother, Emperor Francis Joseph. Maximilian...
  • Morelos y Pavón, José María 1765-1815, Mexican leader in the revolution against Spain, a national hero. He was, like Hidalgo y Costilla , a liberal priest. Joining the revolution (1810), he conducted a brilliant campaign in the south and after the execution of Hidalgo he became insurrectionary chief. He defended Cuautla against Calleja del Rey for several months, and then cut through the siege. After taking Orizaba and Oaxaca (1812) in a brilliant engagement, Morelos captured Acapulco (1813). The Congress of Chilpancingo, convened in...
  • Obregón, Álvaro 1880-1928, Mexican general and president (1920-24). A planter in Sonora, he supported Francisco I. Madero in the revolution against Porfirio Díaz. In 1913, Obregón joined Venustiano Carranza in the overthrow of Victoriano Huerta and later was commander against the opponents of Carranza, especially Francisco Villa. One of the most enlightened generals in the revolution, he was for a time Carranza's minister of war. When the latter attempted to perpetuate himself in power, Obregón promptly led a successful...
  • Padilla, Ezequiel 1890-1971, Mexican political leader. A revolutionary under Pancho Villa, he studied law in New York City. He served as secretary of public education (1928-30) and helped found Mexico's modern...
  • Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano 1797-1849, Mexican general and president (1846). A leader of the ultraconservatives, he helped to put Antonio López de Santa Anna into the presidency in 1841 but soon opposed him. In 1845, Paredes...
  • Portillo y Pacheco, José López 1920-, president of Mexico (1976-82). He held various government posts before becoming minister of finance in 1971. As president, he greatly expanded the Mexican petroleum industry, turning Mexico...
  • Salinas de Gortari, Carlos 1948-, president of Mexico (1988-94). A Harvard-educated political economist, he became minister of planning and the budget (1982-87) and succeeded Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado as president in 1988. A member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) from his student days, he became the first PRI presidential candidate to face competitive elections. Salinas won with 50.4% of the vote, but his victory was the result of PRI fraud. As...
  • Santa Anna, Antonio López de 1794-1876, Mexican general and politician. He fought in the royalist army, but later joined Iturbide in the struggle that won independence for Mexico (1821). Santa Anna then entered upon a long and tortuous political career. His actions were governed by opportunism rather than by any fixed...
  • Ulloa, Francisco de d. c.1540, Spanish explorer in Mexico. Against the orders of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, Hernán Cortés sent Ulloa to explore the Gulf of California. In 1538-39 he sailed to the head of the gulf,...
  • Velasco, Luis de d. 1564, Spanish administrator, second viceroy (1550-64) of New Spain (now Mexico), successor to Antonio de Mendoza. His rule was remarkably energetic, humanitarian, and free of corruption. He did much to improve the condition of the natives and thus aroused the opposition of many of the powerful Spaniards in...
  • Villa, Francisco c.1877-1923, Mexican revolutionary, nicknamed Pancho Villa. His real name was Doroteo Arango.
  • Zapata, Emiliano c.1879-1919, Mexican revolutionary, b. Morelos. Zapata was of almost pure native descent. A tenant farmer, he occupied a social position between the peon and the ranchero, but he was a born leader...
  • Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto 1951-, Mexican politician, president of Mexico (1994-2000). Educated as an economist in Mexico and the United States and a member of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) since 1971, he served as Mexico's minister of planning and the budget (1988-92) and education (1992-93) under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. After the PRI's presidential candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta , was assassinated in 1994, Zedillo, who had never served in an elected office, was chosen to replace him and won the election. With the economy in recession—reeling from a peso devaluation, rising...
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