Background
Miguel Alemán Valdés was born in the small town of Sayula in the state of Veracruz on September 29, 1900. Alemán’s father had been a Revolutionary general and later a deputy in the federal Congress.
Miguel Alemán Valdés was born in the small town of Sayula in the state of Veracruz on September 29, 1900. Alemán’s father had been a Revolutionary general and later a deputy in the federal Congress.
Alemán went to school in Orizaba and then to the National Preparatory School in Mexico City. He received his law degree from the National Autonomous University in 1928, writing a thesis on labor law.
He began to climb the political ladder in 1928 when he became legal adviser to the minister of agriculture. In 1930 Alemán became a member of the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, gaining a national reputation as a negotiator in labor management talks.
He carried on his father’s tradition of supporting the moderates within the Revolutionary establishment and opposing the leftists. He was a member of the Superior Tribunal of the Federal District during 1930-1935, governor of his native state of Veracruz during 1936-1939, and minister of internal affairs (Gobernación) in the presidential cabinet during 1940-1946. His presidential term ran from December 1946 to December 1952, a period in which the government built hydroelectric dams to bring full-scale irrigated farming to Mexico’s arid regions plus surplus electric power to fuel the new growth of industries.
Within the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the followers of former President Lázaro Cárdenas became the left-wingers, and the followers of Alemán became the right-wingers during Alemán’s administration and well into the 1960s, when those personalistic descriptions began to fade from popular usage.
In the 1970s as a former president Alemán continued to influence the moderate and conservative groups within the Institutional Revolutionary Party through an ad hoc organization he formed. In 1947 President Alemán had pushed the expansion of both privately and publicly owned steel companies, and in 1970 his civic front persuaded the party to publicly urge construction of the government’s proposed steel complex in the state of Michoacán, which began production in 1976.
Both as president and as former president. Alemán worked to promote the Mexican automobile and electronics industries. He inaugurated Mexico’s first television station in 1950 and became its first performer by giving his State of the Union address. In the 1960s he encouraged television and radio parts manufacturers in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico City.
Within the Institutional Revolutionary Party the followers of Alemán became the right-wingers during Alemán’s administration and well into the 1960s, when those personalistic descriptions began to fade from popular usage.
He was marred by Beatriz Velasco.
The President of the United Mexican States