The Underdogs
The Beginning of the End: Porfirio Díaz
In the late Díaz period, there were efforts to anticipate the succession in 1910. Arguments were made that the nation should return to having a vice president. This interested both the anti-Díaz partisans and some Díaz collaborators, for the latter hoped to get in position to succeed the old man. Díaz never lost his grasp of politics, however. He knew who among his supporters were threats. Bernardo Reyes, governor of Nuevo León and commander of the Armies of the Northeast, was one possible vice presidential candidate. Another was José Yves Limantour, Secretary of Finance and the leader of the Científicos. Both had support but Díaz chose Ramón Corral, who had no following and, in fact, was unpopular.
The anti-Díaz sentiment or just plain ambition led to the formation of democratic clubs and anti-Díaz publications. In 1908, Francisco I. Madero, a rich hacendado from a very powerful family, published The Presidential Succession in 1910, a book in which he praised Díaz and supported him for the presidency in 1910 but argued that the nomination for the vice-presidency should be democratic. Madero was hoping to be that candidate but Díaz never took him seriously. In 1910, Madero had decided to oppose Díaz for the presidency. He was a very "un-Mexican" candidate for he was a teetotaling, vegetarian, spiritualist. Moreover, his upper class origins in Coahuila and his foreign university education (California and France) made him atypical as well. His family opposed his desire to run but gave him some support out of family loyalty. They were not very happy with his idea that the peasants should be helped out of their poverty.
Opposition also came from workers. In the first decade of the 20th century, there was labor agitation with major strikes at the Orizaba, Veracruz textile mill in 1906-07 and in copper mines at Cananea, Sonora in 1906. In the latter strike, Díaz allowed foreigners, Arizona state rangers, to cross the
In the late Díaz period, there were efforts to anticipate the succession in 1910. Arguments were made that the nation should return to having a vice president. This interested both the anti-Díaz partisans and some Díaz collaborators, for the latter hoped to get in position to succeed the old man. Díaz never lost his grasp of politics, however. He knew who among his supporters were threats. Bernardo Reyes, governor of Nuevo León and commander of the Armies of the Northeast, was one possible vice presidential candidate. Another was José Yves Limantour, Secretary of Finance and the leader of the Científicos. Both had support but Díaz chose Ramón Corral, who had no following and, in fact, was unpopular.
The anti-Díaz sentiment or just plain ambition led to the formation of democratic clubs and anti-Díaz publications. In 1908, Francisco I. Madero, a rich hacendado from a very powerful family, published The Presidential Succession in 1910, a book in which he praised Díaz and supported him for the presidency in 1910 but argued that the nomination for the vice-presidency should be democratic. Madero was hoping to be that candidate but Díaz never took him seriously. In 1910, Madero had decided to oppose Díaz for the presidency. He was a very "un-Mexican" candidate for he was a teetotaling, vegetarian, spiritualist. Moreover, his upper class origins in Coahuila and his foreign university education (California and France) made him atypical as well. His family opposed his desire to run but gave him some support out of family loyalty. They were not very happy with his idea that the peasants should be helped out of their poverty.
Opposition also came from workers. In the first decade of the 20th century, there was labor agitation with major strikes at the Orizaba, Veracruz textile mill in 1906-07 and in copper mines at Cananea, Sonora in 1906. In the latter strike, Díaz allowed foreigners, Arizona state rangers, to cross the