Background
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was born in Chalchicomula on 12 March 1911. Born into a middle-class family.
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was born in Chalchicomula on 12 March 1911. Born into a middle-class family.
Diaz Ordaz took his law degree from the University of Puebla, in contrast to a majority of the Mexican presidents after 1946 who obtained their law degrees at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. A professor of law at the University of Puebla, he became president of the university in 1940.
In 1941 Díaz Ordaz launched his political career as municipal chairman of the dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PR1) for the city of Puebla. Elected a deputy to the federal Congress for the 1943-1946 term, he then served as a senator during 1946-1952. Briefly between his deputy and senatorial terms in 1946. he was secretary of state (lieutenant governor) of the state of Puebla and solidified his contacts within the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Mexico City.
In 1953 Diaz Ordaz became director of legal affairs for the Gobernación Ministry. In 1956 he became that ministry’s executive administrator, and in 1958 he was named minister of internal affairs by President Adolfo López Mateos. In addition to hosting the Olympics and defeating a leftist attempt to destabilize the government, the Diaz Ordaz administration launched an investment thrust in Central America. By 1970 the government’s development bank. Nacional Financiera, had led a consortium of public and private entities in investment larger than that of corporate and governmental Mexico in any previous administration.
After his term as president, Diaz Ordaz became Mexico’s ambassador to Spain, but in August 1977 he resigned in disagreement with President José López Portillo’s policies toward the Spanish government. He returned to private law practice in Mexico City, where he died.