Porfirio Díaz was a Mexican general and politician who served as President of Mexico, a total of three and a half decades from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911. The period of his presidency is known as the Porfiriato. Díaz also was Governor of Oaxaca.
Background
Ethnicity:
Díaz was a castizo. He had a Spanish-Indian ancestry.
Porfirio Díaz was born on September 15, 1830, in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico. However, his actual date of birth is unknown. He was a son of José Faustino Díaz and María Petrona Mori. His father, a moderately well-to-do veterinarian and innkeeper died when Porfirio was only 3 years old. His mother was the daughter of Tecla Cortés and a man whose father had immigrated from Spain. Díaz also had three brothers and four sisters.
Education
In 1835, Porfirio Díaz entered the Escuela Amiga, an educational institution controlled by the parish of Oaxaca where he learned to read and write. In 1843, he entered the seminary and for three years, until 1846, Díaz studied physics, mathematics, logic, grammar, rhetoric and Latin.
In 1848, Díaz decided to leave the seminary and enter the Institute of Science and Arts of Oaxaca. He managed to get ahead in his law studies and in 1854, he passed the first exam for the title of lawyer.
In 1846 Porfirio Díaz enlisted in the national guard to combat the North American invaders, but he did not participate in the fighting. At the end of 1850, he became a teacher at the Institute of Science and Arts of Oaxaca. However, soon he started serving as a guerrilla officer against the conservative clerical forces seeking to prevent liberal reforms. Díaz led the Eastern Command of the army from October 1863 until the French imprisoned him in a Puebla prison in February 1865. However, he escaped, raised another liberal army, and laid siege to the city of Oaxaca. Following this, he recaptured Puebla in April 1867. In June that year, they took over Mexico City. Díaz ruled the city as governor until July. Throughout the war, he rose to the ranks of lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general. The war ended with the victory of the liberals over the conservatives. In 1868 he retired from the army to his native state of Oaxaca, where the grateful citizens had given him a large farm, La Noria.
In 1867 Díaz ran against Juárez for the presidency but was heavily defeated. Hoping to increase his prestige by a short retirement, Díaz devoted himself to the raising of sugarcane. In 1871 he again opposed Juárez for the presidency in an election. The election ended in a tie between Díaz, Juárez, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, and the Mexican Congress made Juárez president and Lerdo vice president. However, Díaz continued to rebel against the government and made several attempts to overthrow it. Nevertheless, the 'Plan de la Noria' against Benito Juarez failed. Díaz accepted a general amnesty and opened a furniture factory in Veracruz, while he prepared for another try at the presidency. In 1876, after Lerdo announced plans to succeed himself, Díaz again revolted. Lerdo's regime, plagued by popular apathy and a querulous military, soon collapsed and Lerdo fled into exile. Díaz then ran unopposed and was elected to fill Lerdo's unexpired term. Soon he gave the position up to Juan M. Mendez.
However, Díaz returned to power after winning the elections in 1877. In 1880 Díaz left the presidency to General Manuel González, a longtime supporter and friend. He served as Secretary of Development, Colonization, and Industry of Mexico from 1880 to 1881. In 1882, he became governor of Oaxaca and held this post until 1883. In 1884 Díaz abandoned his "no reelection" policy and again assumed the Mexican presidency. In 1909, he survived an assassination attempt during the historic meeting with William Taft in El Paso. During the election of 1910, Díaz won against Francisco Ignacio Madero González. However, the latter claimed that the election was rigged. Madero, who was imprisoned by Díaz, escaped and called for revolution. As the country rose, the weak army collapsed. Díaz, deserted by many of his followers and without effective armed forces, resigned office on May 25, 1911. He fled to France, where he died in relative poverty on July 2, 1915.
Porfirio Díaz was a Mexican general and politician, known as the 29th President of Mexico. He also served as Governor of Oaxaca and Secretary of Development, Colonization, and Industry of Mexico. He established a strong centralized state that he held under firm control for more than three decades. Díaz almost succeeded in this protean task, yet finally failed because he gave economic development far too high a priority over social justice.
Porfirio Díaz was honored with numerous recognitions from the then-rulers and empires, such as the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Order of the Lion and the Sun, Order of the Netherlands Lion, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and Order of the Double Dragon. The centenary celebration of Mexican independence in 1910 was inaugurated by Díaz. His life has been captured in many biographies and biopics. Additionally, the American rock band 'At the Drive-In' named one of its songs after him.
Religion
Porfirio Díaz came from a devout Catholic family. When he was young he had trained for the priesthood. When Díaz became a politician he formed a compromise with the Catholic Church, by which the federal government would not harass the Church if the latter would not interfere in Mexican politics. Díaz wanted to remain in good standing with the Church.
Politics
Porfirio Díaz's 34-year rule is known as the Porfiriato. It was a period of relative peace and economic growth. During his first term as president, Porfirio Díaz began to re-establish the federal government's power over the diverse Mexican states. He enlarged and gave great power to a constabulary, the Rurales. They destroyed many of the bandit gangs which had proliferated during the civil wars and later crushed all political opposition to Díaz's rule. He also formed a compromise with the Catholic Church, by which the federal government would not harass the Church if the latter would not interfere in Mexican politics.
He appeased the opposition into supporting him and suppressed them if they did not. Díaz saw his task in his term as president to create internal order so that economic development could be possible. The United States was initially reluctant to recognize Díaz as the president. However, after Díaz paid the United States $300,000 and contained the attacks of Apache across the borders, his relationship with the United States improved and brought in a lot of investments. Díaz and his advisers' pragmatism in relation to the United States became the policy of "defensive modernization." That policy attempted to make the best of Mexico's weak position against its northern neighbor.
Following the González presidency, Díaz abandoned favoring his own political group that brought him to power in 1876 and selected ministers and other high officials from other factions. Foreign investors, especially from the United States and Great Britain, as well as Germany and France, were an important group supporting the regime. In order to satisfy any competing domestic forces, such as the mixed-race Mestizos and wealthier indigenous leaders, Díaz gave them political positions that they could not refuse. He also made them intermediators for foreign interests, enriching them. Díaz proved to be a different kind of liberal than those of the past. He suppressed the formation of opposition parties. Besides, he dissolved all local authorities and all aspects of federalism that once existed. In 1857, a number of amendments were made to the Constitution that allowed his re-election and extension of the presidential term. Díaz suppressed the press and controlled the court system.
Porfirio Díaz kept the military under control by placing people loyal to him in critical positions. He increased the size of the military budget and began modernizing the institution along the lines of European militaries, including the establishment of a military academy to train officers. High-rank officers were brought into government service. He did his best in order to enhance his control over the military and the police.
Díaz sought to attract foreign investment to Mexico to aid the development of mining, agriculture, industry, and infrastructure. He was not an economist, but his two principal advisers, Matías Romero and José Y. Limantour, were responsible for the influx of foreigners to build railroads and bridges, to dig mines, and to irrigate fields. However, Mexico's new wealth was not distributed throughout the country. The government sold off public lands to foreigners and cronies at bargain prices. Most of the profits went abroad or stayed in the hands of a very few wealthy Mexicans. In 1910 most rural workers earned about the same wage that they had earned in 1810. At the same time, the cost of living had increased alarmingly. Landlessness caused rural discontent and a major cause of peasant participation in the Mexican Revolution.
Views
Quotations:
"I have no desire to continue in the Presidency. This nation is ready for her ultimate life of freedom."
"Since I am responsible for bringing several billion dollars in foreign investments into my country, I think I should continue in my position until a competent successor is found."
"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!"
Personality
Porfirio Díaz liked to collect weapons and had a 430-piece collection of arms. He also was fond of billiards, cards, and bowling.
Interests
Cards, collecting weapons
Sport & Clubs
Billiards, bowling
Connections
Porfirio Díaz married Delfina Ortega Díaz in 1867. The marriage produced seven children but only two of them survived. Delfina Ortega Díaz passed away in 1880. Meanwhile, Díaz, a widower, had contracted his second marriage to Carmen Romero Rubio, the daughter of a rich supporter of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Carmen, a devout Catholic, not only made Díaz socially respectable but also helped form a tacit alliance between the government and the Mexican Catholic Church.
Father:
José Faustino Díaz Orozco
(1784 – 1833)
Mother:
María Petrona Mori Córtés
(1794 – 1859)
Brother:
Pablo Díaz Mori
Brother:
Cayetano Díaz Mori
Brother:
Félix Díaz
Sister:
Nicolasa Díaz Mori
Sister:
Desideria Díaz Mori
Sister:
Manuela Josefa Díaz Mori
late wife:
Delfina Ortega Díaz
Delfina Ortega Díaz (October 20, 1845 – April 8, 1880) was the first lady of Mexico as Porfirio Díaz's first wife.
Son:
Porfirio Díaz Ortega
Porfirio Díaz Ortega (October 18, 1873 – December 28, 1946) was a military engineer.
Daughter:
Luz Aurora Victoria Díaz Ortega
(1875 – 1965)
Wife:
Carmen Romero Rubio
(January 20, 1864 – June 25, 1944)
colleague:
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States.
