Noah Dimaano, Elena McNiece, Margaret Parker, Patrick Rao Lazaro Cardenas Noah Dimaano, Elena McNiece, Margaret Parker, Patrick Rao

Cardenas, Briefly Highly influential, respected, accepted, and loved by the masses as a leader. Many consider him to be the best president in all of Mexico’s history; several historians call him a “perfect politician” Cardenas described as a “loving anarchist”

Timeline Born (May 21, 1895 in Jiquilpan, Mexico) Joined the Revolutionary Movement (1913) Appointed chief of military operations (1920) Elected governor of Michoacan (1928) Appointed to run as a presidential candidate by the Mexican Revolution Party (1933) President of Mexico (1934-1940) Died (Oct 19, 1970)

Youth and Rise to Power During the Revolution Joined the armed struggle against President Huerta which made him close friends with Calles During his role in the Revolution, he understood the excesses of war - he was assigned to shoot a priest but refused. He knew most Mexicans were devoted Catholics Read authors like Karl Marx - crucial to his ideological development After the Revolution, he was appointed Chief of Military Operations This was when he began to understand the difficulties of the indigenous people Became Governor for his home state, Michoacan

Cardenas’ Presidency (1934-1940) Policies were inspired by socialist ideas - benefiting the indigenous people, land redistribution, and infrastructure and agriculture. Nationalized all US and UK oil companies Experimented with a worker- controlled railway Planned a socialist education system

What he was known for/Successes Being a “true reformer” and a man of the people Extreme land reform and redistribution (Cardenas distributed more land to villagers than all previous revolutionary Presidents combined- damn) Nationalized oil companies to create Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Promoting the stability, order and modernization of Mexico

Critiques/Failures... The land given to the peasants was infertile, and landowners retained the best portions for themselves He didn’t provide peasants with the resources to make the best use of their new land Nationalization of oil didn’t set a precedent - as 90% of the Mexican mining industry was still owned by foreign powers Extreme shift to the right: abandoned many reforms at the end of his term

Support and Opposition Supported by: -poor peasants (due to land reforms) -indigenous Mexicans (first revolutionary president to address their concerns) -majority of Mexican population (provided stability) Opposed by: -wealthy elite (equitably distributed resources)

Legacy Socialists give credit to the Cardenas Administration for expanding land distribution to peasants, expanding welfare for the poor, and the nationalization of railroad and petrol industries. However, towards the end of his Presidency, some landowners and foreign capitalists began to challenge his rule, including his programs and his power. He played a key role in organizing industrial workers and peasants and incorporated both of these grops into a reorganized government party called the Partido de la Revolucion Mexicana (PRM) that aimed to establish a “workers democracy in Mexico” Viewed favorably for not using political office for personal financial gain.

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Bibliography Gonzales, Michael J. The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico, 2002. Print. H. (2015). Who was Lazaro Cardenas del Rio? Retrieved October 10, 2016, from http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/presidentsofmexico/p/lcardenas.htm Lazaro Cardenas. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2016, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazaro- Cardenas