Book Reviews: Lázaro Cárdenas: Mexican Democrat. By WILLIAM CAMERON TOWNSEND. Foreword by FRANK TANNENBAUM. (Ann Arbor, Mich.: George Wahr Publishing Company. 1952. Pp. xiv, 372. $4.00.)

• Author: Stephen S. Goodspeed
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• Date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295200500428
• Subject Matter: Articles

687

Lázaro

Cárdenas:

Mexican

Democrat.

By

WILLIAM

CAMERON

TOWNSEND.

Foreword

by

FRANK

TANNENBAUM.

(Ann

Arbor,

Mich.:

George

Wahr

Publishing

Company.

1952.

Pp.

xiv,

372.

$4.00.)

Mexico

has

had

many

presidents

since

independence

but

few

of

them

have

been

as

enthusiastically

acclaimed

or

as

bitterly

denounced

as

General

LAzaro

CArdenas.

His

term

of

office

covered

the

important

years

from

1934

to

1940,

a

period

which

included

the

first

real

implementation

of

the

ideals

and

principles

of

the

Mexican

Revolution

as

well

as

the

Mexican

expropriation

of

the

foreign-owned

petroleum

industry.

Beloved

by

the

Indian

and

the

less

fortunate

and

cursed

by

industrial

and

commercial

inter-

ests,

CArdenas

brought

a

feeling

of

confidence

and

dignity

to

the

Mexican

people

which

had

never

before

existed.

The

CArdenas

story

has

been

told

elsewhere

(Eduardo

J.

Correa,

El

Balance

den

Cdrdenismo;

Victoriano

Anguiano

Equihau,

L£zaro

Car-

den,as,

Su

Fuedo

y la

Politica

Nacional),

but

never

in

English

nor

in

such

a

full

and

sympathetic

manner.

William

Cameron

Townsend

knows

both

Mexico

and

CArdenas

well,

having

lived

in

Mexican

Indian

communities

for

years

as

a

student

of

native

languages.

He

visited

and

traveled

exten-

sively

with

CArdenas

and

advised

him

on

occasion.

These

close

personal

contacts

have

made

it

possible

for

Townsend

to

write

an

intimate

and

full

story

of

CArdenas,

spanning

the

period

from

childhood

through

the

post-

World

War

II

years.

While

the

major

emphasis

is

placed

upon

the

problems

and

accomplishments

of

CArdenas

as

president,

one

is

given

a

penetrating

insight

into

his

activities

in

the

Revolution,

his

term

as

Gov-

ernor

and

later

director

of

a

reclamation

project

in

his

native

state

of

MichoacAn.

Political

scientists

will

be

particularly

interested

in

the

manner

in

which

CArdenas

managed

to

carry

out

projects

for

land

distribution

and

public

works,

educational

and

health

programs,

as

well

as

the

ceaseless

effort

to

raise

the

status

of

the

forgotten

Indian.

He

traveled

constantly

throughout

Mexico

to

secure

firsthand

information

about

the

success

of

government

efforts

to

raise

the

living

standard

of

rural

citizens.

At

no

time

did

he

spare

himself

or

his

associates

on

these

investigating

excursions.

Probably

no

other

Mexican

official

has

ever

traveled

so

extensively

within

his

own

nation

in

an

attempt

to

understand

and

record

the

complexities

of

social

and

economic

problems.

Mr.

Townsend’s

enthusiasm

for

his

subject

on

occasion

results

in

an

unjustified

substantiation

of

certain

techniques

of

Cirdenas’

administra-

tion.

Thus,

he

notes

that

CArdenas

&dquo;persuaded&dquo;

the

Congress

&dquo;to

submit

to

the

states

an

amendment

to

the

Constitution

which

would

absolutely

prohibit

the

delegation

of

extraordinary

powers

to

the

chief

executive