Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori (15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was President of Mexico from 28 November to 6 November 1876 (succeeding Jose Maria Iglesias and preceding Juan N. Mendez, from 17 February 1877 to 1 December 1880 (succeeding Mendez and preceding Manuel Gonzalez), and from 1 December 1884 to 25 May 1911 (succeeding Gonzalez and preceding Francisco Leon de la Barra). Diaz was a veteran of the Reform War and the Franco-Mexican War, and he ruled Mexico as its technocratic strongman for 35 years (the Porfiriato), until he was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1911. Diaz led the Liberal Party of Mexico from 1876 to 1892, when he founded the National Porfirist Party; he supported economic liberalism, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, land reform (taking lands from the Native Americans and the Catholic Church and selling them to allies and corporations), modernization, international investment, and nominal anti-clericalism, but he was a social conservative who believed in white supremacy (in spite of his own Native ancestry), an alliance with the Catholic Church, and the value of science and facts over tradition or morals.
Biography[]
Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz was born in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1830, and he became one of the principal architects of the overthrow of the French-backed Emperor Maximilian in 1867 while working as a professor of law. Then years later, he organized a coup in which he declared himself President, after which he ruled for 34 years (1880-4 through a puppet presdent). By quashing all opposition, he stabilized a country whch had been in almost constant turmoil since independence in 1821. Through his programme of economic liberalization, the economy underwent significant transformation. Largely with the help of foreign capital, oil resources were explored, railways built, and mining encouraged. In agriculture, small farmers were bullied into selling their land to large landowners, a measure which created increased agricultural efficiency, but which also created tremendous social problems through leaving the majority of all farmers landless by 1910. In addition, economic problems and increased political repression lost him the crucial support of much of the middle classes. His downfall in 1911 was caused by the Mexican Revolution, which was triggered by the opposition of members of the elite led by Francisco I. Madero, and was encouraged by the popular discontent fostered by the failure of the masses to benefit from his economic reforms. He died in exile in Paris.