Adolfo Ruiz Cortines
Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, he previously served as Governor of Veracruz and Secretary of the Interior. During his presidency, which constituted the Mexican Miracle, women gained the right to vote, and he instituted numerous public health, education, infrastructure, and works projects.
A member of the Constitutional Army, Ruiz Cortines was the last Mexican president to have fought in the Mexican Revolution. He worked at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce during the administration of Adolfo de la Huerta and served as an official in the Department of Statistics from 1921 to 1935. Ruiz Cortines joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party and became Senior Official of the Government of the Federal District in 1935 and member of the Chamber of Deputies for Veracruz in 1937. In 1939 he was appointed treasurer of the presidential campaign of Manuel Ávila Camacho and worked as Governor of Veracruz from 1944 to 1948, a position he left to become Secretariat of the Interior during the administration of Miguel Alemán Valdés.
Ruiz Cortines protested as presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1951 and was elected a year later, after winning the disputed 1952 elections. During his administration, he put forward a reform to Article 34 of the Mexican Constitution, giving women the right to vote, and proposed several infrastructure bills, leading to the creation of the National Housing Institute and the National Nuclear Energy Commission. His social policies included the implementation of aguinaldos. Unlike previous administrations from the PRI, he was an advocate of fiscal austerity. His administration was noted for increased transparency in contrast to his predecessor.
One of the oldest presidents of Mexico, Ruiz Cortines has been credited with leading a strong economy during the period known as the "Mexican miracle", and has been praised for personal integrity and increasing confidence in the government through his anti-corruption policies. He was criticized for slower implementation of reforms than some of his predecessors. He has been ranked among the most popular Mexican presidents of the 20th century.
Early life and education
Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines was born on 30 December 1889 at 3:00 pm, in the state of Veracruz, into a family of Andalusian descent. His father, Adolfo Ruiz Tejada, regidor of Veracruz during the Porfiriato, died two and a half months prior to his birth. His mother was María Cortines de la Cotera.Ruiz's grandfather was José Ruiz y Gómez de la Parra, better known as José Ruiz Parra, a member of the State of Veracruz's first Congress in 1824, who co-wrote the state's constitution. José Ruiz Parra was president of the junta that ruled over the Port of Alvarado during the American Invasion of Veracruz, having to personally sign the surrender of the port in 1847. He was also reputed for organizing fundraisers in favor of the Mexican Army during the Second French Invasion of Mexico, as well as for his deep involvement in the education of the local children. José Ruiz Parra was the maternal grandson of Isidro Gómez de la Parra, subdelegado of the Spanish Crown to the province of Tuxtlas, and of his wife Dominga Casado de Toro y Tamariz, herself a descendant of the Luna y Arellano family, holders of the hereditary title of Mariscal de Castilla.
Because of his father's premature death, Ruiz Cortines was raised and educated by his mother. María Cortines de la Cotera was the daughter of Diego Francisco Cortines y Gutiérrez de Celis, and María Dolores de la Cotera y Calzada, whose father was from Peñarrubia, also in Cantabria. His mother taught him to read and write at the age of 3. Later, he entered a school directed by Joaquín Jerónimo Díaz and Florencio Veyro, called Escuela Amiga, but did his secondary educational studies at the Colegio de los Jesuitas, and at the age twelve, he attended the reputed Instituto Veracruzano, famously directed by the poet Salvador Díaz Mirón. Adolfo learned from his mentors about liberalism, a political principle he would apply during his entire political career. In addition, it was at school where he acquired his fanatical interest in baseball. He always wanted to attend a university, but the American Invasion of 1914 forced him to abandon his studies. His first job was as an accounting assistant at a commercial textile company.
Military career
During the Mexican Revolution
In 1909, Ruiz read the book La sucesión presidencial de 1910 published that year by Francisco I. Madero, the leader of the opposition against President Porfirio Díaz. This book motivated Ruiz's interest in politics. In 1910, the Mexican Revolution started and he became inspired by several of its main players such as Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa. Because of this influence, in 1912 at the age of 23, he moved to Mexico City. During his stay in Mexico City, President Madero was assassinated and General Victoriano Huerta took power. Since Ruiz Cortines was opposed to the Huerta government, considered by a broad group of Mexicans as a usurper, he volunteered alongside other former students of the Instituto Veracruzano, under the command of Alfredo Robles, a right hand of the leader of the Constitutionalist faction, General Venustiano Carranza. Robles was in charge of the anti-Huerta forces in the south and center of Mexico. Ruiz Cortines did see military action in the Battle of El Ébano, but his main task was as a bookkeeper and paymaster. In 1920, Carranza was attempting to flee the country after his defeat by Sonoran generals Adolfo de la Huerta, Álvaro Obregón, and Plutarco Elías Calles, who rejected Carranza's attempt to impose his successor, and took with him a large amount of the national treasure. When the generals captured his train and the national treasure's gold, it was the young and trusted officer, Major Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, who received it and delivered it safely and in presence of a notary to General de la Huerta in Mexico City.Post-Revolution and resignation
He continued to serve in the army after the revolution ended. In 1926, he requested and was granted retirement.Early political career
Early positions
With his reputation for precise accounting and bookkeeping, a reputation for honesty, and credentials as a veteran of the Mexican Revolution, there were several options open to him in the 1920s. He served in the government's Department of National Statistics. He took classes in statistics from Daniel Cosío Villegas, who was then a young teacher and later an important historian of Mexico. Ruiz Cortines argued in publications that the Department of National Statistics should be an autonomous agency.In 1935 during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, Ruiz Cortines's political career began at age 45, as the director in charge of Mexico City. It was during that time that he met Miguel Alemán Valdés, son of a revolutionary soldier, now a young lawyer who would later become president of Mexico. In 1940, Ruiz Cortines managed the presidential campaign of Cárdenas's choice as successor, Manuel Avila Camacho. Miguel Alemán asked Ruiz to join him as his sub-secretary because of their personal friendship. This position gave Ruiz the opportunity to gain influence within the Institutional Revolutionary Party. After several years, the PRI designated him as candidate for governor of Veracruz.
Governor of Veracruz
In December 1944, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines became governor of Veracruz. During his administration, he expanded public education in the state. Some of the institutions he founded were the Technical Studies Institute which provided people with a practical education that allowed them to improve their quality of life. Furthermore, he founded the Institute of Anthropology and the State Planning Committee, among others. He also modified the local constitution to allow women to participate in the local and municipal elections. He built roads and bridges to develop Veracruz's infrastructure since it was one of the main ports of Mexico at that time.Secretary of the Interior
On February 12, 1948, Alemán Valdés' Secretary of the Interior,, died in office, and Alemán Valdés needed to fill the position. Manuel Ávila Camacho recommended Ruiz Cortines, to which Alemán Valdés agreed. It was in this position that Ruiz Cortines distinguished himself and became a contender for the next presidential election.1952 presidential election
In 1951, Miguel Alemán Valdés expressed his desire to be allowed to serve a second term, but Lázaro Cárdenas and Manuel Ávila Camacho had former president Abelardo L. Rodríguez tell Alemán Valdés that they didn't think, "extension of the presidential term or re-election is convenient for the country." On 14 October 1951, Ruiz Cortines was named candidate for the presidency by the Institutional Revolutionary Party by the incumbent president, as had become practice. The PRI was the dominant party and Ruiz Cortines's electoral victory was entirely expected.Ruiz Cortines is believed to have been chosen due to his more bland image in contrast to Alemán's more colorful personality, and was not seen as divisive to differin sectors of the PRI. Reportedly, Ruiz Cortines accepted the nomination, but he "apparently did not seek it and certainly did not intrigue to secure it." However, by September, Ruiz Cortines' base of support within the party had grown considerably, and included many young senators such as Adolfo López Mateos and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. His campaign began on October 14, 1951, with his slogan being "austerity and work". His campaign was directed by Rodolfo Sánchez Taboada, the president of the PRI. In one of his first speaking events during his campaign, he stated to around 20,000 women in attendance, "If the vote favors us in the next elections, we intend to initiate before the Chambers the necessary legal reforms so that women enjoy the same political rights as men," a campaign promise he would later fulfill with an amendment to Article 34 of the Constitution.
General Miguel Henríquez Guzmán, formerly of the PRI, who had twice before attempted to secure the party's presidential nomination, was the candidate of the Federation of the Mexican People's Parties. His support was in largely urban areas, and included Cárdenas supporters alienated during Alemán Valdés' presidency, established military men, and members of the middle class who desired a multi-party democracy. When asked for his opinion of Ruiz Cortines, Henríquez Guzmán stated:
The National Action Party, eventually the PRI's largest political opposition party, first participated in this election, nominating Efraín González Luna. In González Luna's campaign, he addressed social and national problems, including women's suffrage, like Ruiz Cortines. Vicente Lombardo Toledano was the Popular Socialist Party's candidate.
The election took place on July 7, 1952. When the results were announced, it was revealed that Ruiz Cortines won, with 74.31% of the popular vote. Henríquez Guzmán won 15.87%, González Luna won 7.82%, and Lombardo Toledano won 1.98%.
The day after the election, Henríquez Guzmán's supporters gathered in the Alameda Central park in Mexico City to protest reported electoral fraud, including the theft of ballot boxes. The government suppressed the peaceful protests, with an estimated 200 being killed, and more forced disappearances and arrests of people related to the protestors occurring in the following days.