Francisco I. Madero

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Francisco Indalecio/Ignacio Madero González

In office 6 November 1911 – 18 February 1913
Preceded by	Francisco León de la Barra
Succeeded by	Pedro Lascuráin Paredes

Born	30 October 1873 Parras, Coahuila
Died	22 February 1913 Mexico City
Political party	Anti re-electionist Party
Spouse	Sara Pérez

Francisco Indalecio Madero González (30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce. However, once Díaz was deposed, the Mexican Revolution quickly spun out of Madero's control. He was deposed and executed by the Porfirista military that he neglected to replace with his revolutionary supporters. His death was followed by the most violent period of the revolution (1913-1917) until the Constitution of 1917 and revolutionary [br] president Venustiano Carranza achieved some degree of stability.

1 Early years
2 The Revolution
3 Fall and execution
4 Miscellany

[edit] Early years

He was born in Parras, Coahuila, the son of Francisco Madero and Mercedes González Treviño. Some people say his middle initial, I, stood for Indalecio but according to his birth certificate it stood for Ignacio. His parents were one of the richest families in Mexico, of Spanish descent. Madero was educated in Baltimore, Versailles, and at the University of California, Berkeley.

Affected "by the plight of the poor under the dictator Porfirio Díaz, in 1904," Madero became involved in politics with the Benito Juárez Democratic Club.

Madero was a vegetarian, mystic and liberal capitalist who feared that the existing regime under Díaz would inevitably breed true social revolution, a fear that proved accurate with the subsequent rise of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. Madero favored an oligarchic façade democracy that would protect the elite from popular insurrection; he wrote that "the ignorant public ... should take no direct part in determining who should be the candidate for public office." Madero thus criticized Díaz's presidency as counterproductive. He proposed that Díaz offer concessions to peasants and the proletariat to promote a climate of order and stability from which both foreign and domestic elites would benefit. Madero also hoped such concessions would curb the growth of radical ideas.

[edit] The Revolution

During the election of 1910, Madero (Anti-Reelectionist) ran against Díaz. Díaz had promised a true democratic election, proclaiming that Mexico was ready for democracy. However during the election, Díaz had Madero and approximately 6,000 other members of the Anti-Reelectionists jailed. Vásquez Gómez took over the nomination, and during Madero's time in jail, Díaz was declared president with an electoral vote of 196 to 187. Madero's father had posted substantial bail, and Madero was able to take daily rides around San Luis Potosi by day, accompanied by guards. On 4 October 1910, Madero simply galloped away from his jailers, and smuggled himself across the border to Laredo, Texas. Moving to San Antonio, Texas, he issued his Plan of San Luis Potosi, which proclaimed the elections of 1910 null and void, and called for an armed revolution at 6 p.m. on 20 November 1910 against the 'illegitimate' presidency of Díaz. The Revolution spread, and Francisco Villa occupied Chihuahua, Chihuahua, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The overthrow of Díaz was accomplished on 17 May, when Madero signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, in which he demanded the resignation of Díaz as a condition for an armistice. Díaz resigned on 25 May 1911.

Corrido sheet music celebrating the entry of Francisco Madero into Mexico City in 1911.

Madero appointed Francisco León de la Barra as Interim President. De la Barra was strongly conservative and acted to neutralize the more radical ideas of the Revolution. Madero's action, along with his lack of real political experience and his excessive optimism, created a rift between him and many of his former allies, including Emiliano Zapata, who felt that Madero was not pushing hard enough for land reform. To protest Madero's apparent lack of interest in pursuing Zapata's goals, Zapata issued the Plan of Ayala on 25 November 1911.

Some of the population's expectatations for Madero and disappointment in his administration may be due to his name: as a personal adjective, the word madero in the Spanish language indicates a man of strong resolve and backbone; some believed this adjective did not describe the personality of Don Pancho very well.

[edit] Fall and execution

Main article: La decena tragica

In early 1913, Victoriano Huerta, the commander of the armed forces, conspired with Félix Díaz (Porfirio Díaz's nephew), Bernardo Reyes and US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, against Madero, which culminated in a 10-day battle known as La decena tragica (the Tragic Ten Days). Madero accepted Huerta's "protection" from the Diaz/Reyes forces, only to have Huerta betray and arrest him. Madero's brother and advisor Gustavo A. Madero was kidnapped off the street, tortured, and killed. Following Huerta's coup d'état on 18 February 1913, Madero was forced to resign. After a very brief term of office by Pedro Lascuráin, Huerta took over the Presidency later that day. Francisco Madero was shot four days later, aged 39. The Huerta government claimed that bodyguards were forced to shoot Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez, during a failed rescue attempt by Madero's supporters. This story was met with general incredulity.