subject: Madero: Notable President Of Mexico [print this page] Francisco Madero might have been a central figure at the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1911, but he certainly wasn't around to see the end results of his work. In fact, the Spiritualist aristocrat was killed two years into his presidency. While his heart was in the right place, he wasn't a very effective leader, and he made some glaring miscalculations which turned out to be deadly.
In 1910, Madero, who had spent the past two years protesting the dictatorial regime of President Diaz, escaped imprisonment to Texas and quickly put a plan into place which declared the recent elections to be null and void. He declared himself the provisional country leader and worked his way back to the Mexican border to meet with the 400 men he'd asked his uncle Catarino to gather; this after calling for the revolution to begin November 20th at 6 pm. Francisco postponed the revolt when his relative showed up late and with only ten supporters.
Eventually, word did get out, and Francisco spent the early months of 1911 as the head of the Revolution and imported weapons from the United States to help the cause. On April 1 1911, Diaz announced that he would return the lands he'd dispossessed to their rightful owners, but no one believed him. Madero, as the man in charge of the revolt, gathered the other leaders to form a plan. He was more cautious than the other men, however, and behaved as a moderate. Luckily, two of his colleagues disagreed, and went on to win two crucial victories which resulted in the resignation of Porfirio in May 1911.
Although Madero had succeeded in removing the hated dictator, he didn't take the seat of power; Leon de la Barra, one of Diaz's cabinet members, was allowed to take the position. Many supporters of the old regime remained in Congress and he failed to root them out, instead taking the approach of convincing the revolutionaries to stop fighting. They refused, and landowners from all over the country began appealing to the new president for help, claiming that their homes had been seized; violence continued to escalate.
Madero took the presidency in November 1911, and appointed a cabinet made up of many Porfirio supporters in hope of appeasing that faction. However, he didn't realize that the months when de la Barra had been in charge had been a prime opportunity for the Porfirians to organize themselves. Francisco's reforms, were met with concerted and organized opposition. Alternatively, he was viewed as too weak and not decisive enough by many of his revolutionary allies, and they accused him of being too nice. Eventually, this instability would result in an execution for the completely unprepared President and some of the most violent years of the Revolution.
