Francisco I. Madero and La Decena Trágica

Francisco Ignacio Madero González was an idealist revolutionary and the first elected of Mexico during the revolutionary period following the popular free elections, unlike General Porfirio Díaz who had retained power through different electoral and constitutional manipulations since 1876-1911 with a minor interruption. In the long succession of Mexican presidents, he was the 33rd president from 1911-1913. His presidential tenure was short-lived due to his assassination in 1913. Madero and his brother had studied for one semester at UC Berkeley in 1897. His name appears in the 1897 edition of Golden Book of California, edited by Robert Sibley.

Francisco Indalecio Madero was born in 1873 on the Hacienda de El Rosario in Parras, Coahuila, in an extremely wealthy landowning family. He studied in France at École des hautes études commerciales de Paris. Madero's early writings can be found in El Democrata. His La sucesión presidencial en 1910 proclaimed the needs and demands of democratic governance and restoration to its 1857 Constitution (p.64). His call for revolution and the changes that it ushered in was called "Revolucion Maderista." And he was called, "Apostol De La Democracia," in a 1960 book: Gotitas de placer y chubascos de amargura: Memorias de la Revolución Mexicana en las Huastecas. Madero was one of the presidential candidates in the 1910 election. However, Díaz was re-elected, and Madero escaped to the United States. And issued "Plan de San Luis" (Plan of San Luis de Potosí) in October of 1910. The plan called for "dethroning of the usurpers" and ended with word, “Sufragio efectivo, no reelección.” Effectively, on 20 November 1910, Madero issued called for Revolution. On the eve of Mexican Revolution there were several uprisings by Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. The old dictator Díaz signed the treaty of Juarez in 1911 and went into exile to Paris. Madero's liberal presidency lasted from November of 1911 up to his murder on 22 February 1913. The last ten days of his Presidency are known as La Decena Trágica.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II tries to recompile events that took place in these ten tragic days in his book "La Temporada de Zopilotes." Madero's administration faced multiple simultaneous crises. There were revolts of Zapata, Villa, and plotting by José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (who became later the president of Mexico) and Porfirio's nephew Félix Díaz plotted against Madero. Madero and his brother Gustavo fell victims to the plot. Madero's vice president Pino Suárez was also assassinated. The Library of Congress has an interactive map that marks the timeline and places in Mexico City where different events unfolded during la Decena trágica.

Books on Madero and La Decena Trágica can be located in UC Berkeley Library's catalog.