Abelardo L. Rodríguez

Since President Ortiz Rubio was determined to resign because of conflicts with Calles, the question of a replacement was in the key matter. Ortiz Rubio signed his resignation on September 2, 1932, and it was conveyed to Congress the following day. Despite the resignation, the presidential cabinet met, significantly at the home of Calles in Cuernavaca. The President of the PNR, General Manuel Pérez Treviño, would convey names of those whom Calles had made known would be acceptable: Finance Minister Alberto J. Pani, General Joaquín Amaro, and General Abelardo L. Rodriguez. Pani bowed out and suggested for Calles to choose Rodríguez. However, four candidates were presented to Congress, with the name of General Juan José Ríos, Secretary of the Interior, added to the other three. A groundswell of support gave the presidency to Rodríguez, who was named by Congress as President of Mexico on 4 September 1932.[5]

His cabinet included Emilio Portes Gil, who had served as interim president before the 1929 general election. Unlike the cabinet of his predecessor Ortiz Rubio, with multiple changes of personnel, Rodríguez's cabinet was on the whole stable.

During Rodríguez's presidency, Calles was not as focused on political issues as before. Calles's health, which had never been particularly good, declined. To compound Calles's personal woes, his young second wife, Leonor Llorente de Calles, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in spring 1932 and died months later after surgery failed. "Calles's health and state of mind constituted the Achilles heel of this powerful leader."[6]

Rodríguez still had to contend with the perception that although he held the title of president, he was not the man in charge, which was seen to be Calles, the so-called Jefe Máximo de later Revolución. Not only Calles was touted in the press in the US as the "Strong Man of Mexico", but in March 1934, US President Franklin Roosevelt wrote Calles a letter "congratulating him on the 'peace and the growing prosperity of Mexico,'" which was to be delivered at a luncheon that Calles was hosting for Josephus Daniels, the new US ambassador to Mexico. Rodríguez learned of the luncheon at Calles's Cuernavaca home to which many Mexican and foreign dignitaries had already been invited by José Manuel Puig Casauranc. Rodríguez was adamant for the lunch to be cancelled since Calles was "simply a private citizen." It was not the prerogative of an ex-president to host such an event. Guests were disinvited on the pretext that Calles had taken ill. "The President maintained that if any such luncheon were to be given it should be given by him and that if a message should come from President Roosevelt it should come to the President of Mexico."[7] The Roosevelt letter to Calles was delivered, but Calles replied that he was not a part of the President's government although greatly esteemed him. The US ambassador months later made another misstep by calling Calles "the strong man of Mexico" in an interview with the Mexican newspaper El Nacional. That made Daniels become called out by Rodríguez, and the ambassador subsequently claimed that he had been misquoted.[8] Daniels wrote in his memoirs that he, Calles, and Puig Casauranc "knew that the man in Chapultepec Castle [the official presidential residence] was the President of Mexico."[9]

Calles still had considerable sway over Rodríguez's ministers, who often consulted with the him when they tried to affect policy. Finance Minister Alberto J. Pani attempted to temper Rodríguez's adoption of deficit spending and objected to the government's anticlerical tendencies. Pani had long been an importance presence in politics, but Rodríguez forced his resignation from the cabinet. As a sop to Calles, who objected to ousting Pani, Rodríguez appointed Calles as Finance Minister.[10]

Rodríguez's government organized the Council of Primary Education in the Federal District and created cultural missions in rural areas. He also established agricultural schools and regional farm schools, as well as schools for teacher education. He also established the Technical Council of Rural Education.

Narciso Bassols was Minister of Education and pursued a policy that took control of education out of the hands of Mexican states and put it under federal control. At issue was the continued influence of the Catholic Church on students. Under Bassols, the proposition that the education should explicitly advocate socialism was to be official policy, and he moved to embed that in the Mexican Constitution. Many parents objected to sex education in the schools, and there was considerable resistance from the Church. Bassols increased teachers' salaries and sought to undermine the influence of teachers' groups. Rodríguez shifted Bassols from Education to the high-level post as Minister of the Interior, and Baddols then resigned. Rodriguez feared the potential of strong moves against the Catholic Church of causing problems for his successor as President.[11]

Under Interim President Emilio Portes Gil, the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico and the Mexican government had come to an agreement that would end the Cristero War in 1929. The Catholic Church was displeased that there were continued anti-Catholic moves in parts of the country, especially Jalisco and Chiapas. Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical that objected to Mexican legislation detrimental to Catholic clergy. Rodríguez strongly objected to the encyclical as full of falsehoods and 'would incite the clergy to disobey the Mexican rulings." The Vatican’s representative in Mexico, Apostolic Delegate Archbishop Leopoldo Ruiz y Flóres, tried to say that the Mexican government had misunderstood the Pope's message. Congress demanded his expulsion, and he was put on a plane. Ruiz y Flores then called on Mexican Catholics not to be members of the PNR since it was socialistic and atheistic, and he called for action by the Catholic faithful. "Each Catholic should be converted into a school of Christian doctrine–into a real apostle—and we shall see that the persecution is converted into blessings from Heaven."[12] The strongly anticlerical-Calles, whose policies while president had provoked the Cristero War, called for the expulsion of the papal representative as well as the archbishop of Mexico. The papal representative was already outside the country and would be arrested if he returned. Rodríguez authorized Portes Gil, then Minister of the Interior, to draw up a recommendation, which he could discuss with Calles. Steps were taken against the high clerics, but there was no uprising of Catholics against the government, despite clerical calls for one.[13]

The government issued the Agrarian Code, which brought together scattered legislation on agrarian matters. Rodríguez renewed efforts to distribute landed estates into the hands of peasants, which had slowed under the Calles administration. Rodríguez promoted the activities of the National Agricultural Credit Bank. For labor, he enacted a minimum wage that was tied to the cost of living in each state. He created the Department of Labor and promoted the trade union movement and protected the workers against management. He established regulations of the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration were issued and created the Federal Office of Labor Defense, of Agencies of Placements, of Dangerous and Unhealthy Work, of Labor Hygiene, of the Federal Labor Inspection and of Preventive Measures of Accidents. He was a supporter of co-operativies, which he considered would distribute the national wealth to be distributed more evenly, and he pressed Congress to issue the Cooperatives Act. Important for future actions on Mexico's petroleum industry was Rodríguez's creation of a private company, Petromex, tied to the government and guarded supply for domestic use and could compete with foreign investors in the industry.[14]

1933 map of the Mexican portion of the Pan-American Highway.

Calles had initiated an ambitious program of road building, which continued in the 1930s under Rodríguez. Roads were would link important centers within Mexico as well as with the United States in the north and Guatemala in the south. They would also connect between remote areas of Mexico and the larger nation. Road building was a form of state building.[15] Construction on the Pan-American Highway saw progress, with a map issued in 1933 showing the route.

During his presidency, he improved the organization and operation of common justice, issuing the Organic Law of the District and Territorial Courts. The federal codes were reviewed and the Federal Law on Criminal Procedures was issued. He organized the Office of the Attorney General, determining the functions of the Federal Public Ministry, which carried out the study of the Law of Protection and issued the Personal Identification, Nationality and Naturalization, Foreign Service and General Mercantile Companies. He also implemented laws related to private charity and monopolies. He issued the Limited Liability and Public Interest Corporation Law. He enacted the Code of Military Justice.

He established the National Economic Council and created the National Financial bank. He founded the Bank of the Pacific, the Mexican Bank of the West, and the Central Mexican Credit. He reformed the Law of Secretaries of State, transforming the Department of Commerce, Commerce and Labor into the Secretariat of the National Economy, which was responsible for establishing the bases of state interventionism and the managed economy.