Adolfo Lopez Mateos he was president of Mexico during the period from 1958 to 1964. The next May 26 commemorates his birthday number 113.
Biography of Adolfo López Mateos
Adolfo López Mateos was born on May 26, 1910, in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico. Son of the marriage between Elena Mateos Vega, author of the book musical heartand Mariano Gerardo López Sánchez, dental surgeon.
However, his father passed away when Lopez Mateos He was a child – he was five years old. At that time, his mother helped him get a scholarship to study in elementary school at the French College. Shortly after, he studied high school in Toluca, while working as a librarian’s assistant.
As for his high school education, he attended the Scientific and Literary Institute of the State of Mexico. In 1929 she studied law at the Night School of the Faculty of Law of the National University. During that year he also participated in the presidential campaign of Jose Vasconcelos.
However, the Vasconcelismo of that time would be defeated in an alleged electoral fraud. This situation forced López Mateos to go into exile in Guatemala. He returned to Mexico, after a short time, and settled in Tapachula, Chiapas, where he worked as a journalist.
In the year 1930 he decided to continue his studies to become a lawyer at the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His degree was obtained with the thesis “Crimes against the National Economy.”
This time was fruitful, because in the company of his colleague Roberto Antwood, he founded the Union of Students Pro Workers and Peasantsgiving night classes to low-income people.
Political career
In 1931, López Mateos was secretary of Carlos Riva Palacioformer governor of the State of Mexico and president of the National Revolutionary Party (PNR). Later, López Mateos was appointed general secretary of the PNR in what was then the Federal District.
He also worked as coordinator of the Department of Extracurricular Education and Aesthetics of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP)in 1936.
In addition, in the period from 1933 to 1943, he served as comptroller of the National Worker’s Bank and of Promotion in the Graphic Workshops of the Nation.
It was in 1946 when he became a senator, supplanting Isidro Fabela, who was appointed as the representative of Mexico before the International Court in The Hague. López Mateos held part of the Upper House until 1952.
Later he became the head of the presidential campaign of the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Adolfo Ruiz Cortines. Cortines, who was president of Mexico from 1952 to 1958, appointed López Mateos as Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare.
On November 4, 1957, Adolfo López Mateos was nominated as a candidate for President of the Republic. He would be elected on the first Sunday of July 1958, and took office as President of Mexico on December 1 of the same year.
Contributions by Adolfo López Mateos
During his tenure as Mexican president, he made several contributions to national politics, among which are:
- The nationalization of the Mexican Electricity Industry.
- creation of Institute of Security and Social Services of Workers at the State Service (ISSSTE).
- establishment of National Institute for Child Protection (INPI).
- Creation of the National Commission of Free Textbooks and of the Anthropology National Museum.
Furthermore, President López Mateos upheld an international policy of non-intervention and of a pacifist nature. He even strove to build ties with other countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
During his administration he also faced some crises such as the 1959 Railroad Movement, the death of the agrarian leader Rubén Jaramillo, and the Cuban crisis.
His presidential term ended in 1964.
Death
In June 1967, former President López Mateos suffered a stroke that kept him in a coma for two years.
Finally, died in Mexico City on September 22, 1969.