Jose Vasconcelos Biography
José Vasconcelos, (born February 28, 1882 in Oaxaca, Mexico, died June 30, 1959 in Mexico City), Mexican educator, politician, essayist, and philosopher.
His five-volume autobiography, Ulises Criollo (1935; «A Creole»). Ulysses»), The Storm (1936; «The Torment»), The Disaster (1938; «The Disaster»), The Proconsulate (1939; «The Proconsul»), and The Flame (1959; «The Flame»), is one of the best sociocultural studies of the 20th century in Mexico.
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In the 1910-11 uprising, the secretary and substitute Francisco Vázquez Gómez, Log in Washington, and founder of the Progressive Constitutionalist Party Agent.
After the coup of Victorian Orchard, venustian carranza He appointed him a confidential agent of the governments of England and France, to try to prevent them from providing financial aid to the dictator.
In 1914 he was appointed director of the National Preparatory School. He then fled to the United States, since Venustiano Carranza tried to arrest him for the sin of criticism.
Upon his return he attended the Aguascalientes Convention and served as secretary of public instruction for two months in the cabinet of Eulalio Guzmán.
Beginnings of José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos was born on February 27, 1882 in Oaxaca, but the family soon moved to Piedras Negras. When José started school, he crossed the bridge every day to attend classes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
Later the family moved to various other Mexican cities, and for a time he attended the Instituto Campechano (Campeche Institute) and then, in Mexico City, the National Preparatory School and law school, receiving his law degree in 1907. .
Vasconcelos belonged to the Ateneo de la Juventud (Youth Athenaeum) and participated in the Mexican Revolution by Francisco Madero and Pancho VillaMeanwhile, he published numerous articles on the activities of Mexican intellectuals.
When the revolution triumphed, Álvaro Obregón named him president of the National University of Mexico, and from 1921 to 1924 he made an extraordinary contribution as secretary of public education.
Organizing popular education, creating libraries, stimulating mural painting, carrying out an extensive publication and import program of educators such as Pedro Henriquez Ureña and Gabriela Mistral.
In 1925 La raza cósmica (The Cosmic Race) was published, followed by Indologia (Indology) in 1926, in which he dealt with the Culture of Spanish America.
USA
In 1915 he was exiled to the United States. In 1920 he met with Alvaro Obregon and gave its support to the Agua Prieta Plan, which sought to dismiss Venustiano Carranza from the Presidency of the Republic, and thus consolidate the presidential candidacy of General Álvaro Obregón.
Adolfo de la Huerta appointed him head of the University and Fine Arts Department. In this role he imposed on the National University the current coat of arms and the motto «The spirit will speak for my race.»
He continued in office under the presidency of Álvaro Obregón, who appointed him head of the Ministry of Public Education to create this unit.
From this position he imposed popular education, Mexico brought outstanding educators and artists, created many popular libraries and departments of fine arts, schools, and libraries and archives.
He reorganized the national library, administered a program for the mass publication of classic authors, founded the magazine El Maestro, promoted school and rural missions, and held the first book exhibition.
During his tenure, murals to decorate public buildings were commissioned from painters José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera, although some have claimed that the sayings on the wall had to overcome dogged resistance from Minister Vasconcelos, whose understanding Orozco had «horrible cartoons». .
The trips
Due to political difficulties, Vasconcelos had to leave Mexico several times, so he traveled through Europe and the United States.
In 1929 he launched his campaign for the presidency of Mexico, but was defeated and once again went into exile, living in Europe, Asia, and South America.
From Paris and Madrid he directed La antorcha (The torch), a magazine that he published in the years after his presidential campaign.
Under the term «criollo,» Vasconcelos pledged to defend a type of Hispanic culture, both against a counterfeit indigenous cult and against Anglo-Saxon influence.
In 1940 he returned to Mexico and became director of the Biblioteca México (Library of Mexico), continuing in that position until his death.
He belonged to countless cultural groups, both in Mexico and abroad, including the Colegio Nacional and the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua. He died in Mexico City on June 30, 1959.
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