de la Huerta, Adolfo (1881–1955)

Adolfo de la Huerta (b. 26 May 1881; d. 9 July 1955), interim president of Mexico in 1920 and an important figure among the Constitutionalists during the Mexican Revolution. De la Huerta was born to an important family of Guaymas, in the state of Sonora. His family supported his studies in Her-mosillo, where he obtained a teaching certificate in music. In 1900 he abandoned a career in that field to maintain his family by working in a variety of bookkeeping posts. In 1908 he joined the Anti-Reelectionist Club, becoming secretary in 1910. In that year, however, his antigovernment activities cost him his managerial job. In 1911 he entered local politics, defeating Plutarco Elías Calles to become the local deputy to the state legislature.

Having joined the Constitutionalists under Venustiano Carranza on 20 February 1913, de la Huerta served as Carranza's oficial mayor (chief clerk) of government from 1915 to 1916. His other positions included interim governor of Sonora (1916–1917), consul general in New York City (1918), senator (1918), and governor of Sonora (1919–1920).

De la Huerta supported the opposition to Carranza that resulted in the Plan of Agua Prieta and, after Carranza's death, served as provisional president of the republic, from 1 June to 30 November 1920. On the election of Alvaro Obregón he joined the cabinet as secretary of the treasury (1920–1923), but when Obregón supported Calles for the presidency, de la Huerta led the first major, and most important, rebellion against the post-Revolutionary government (7 December 1923). Despite the support of a large part of the army and the civilian political community, the rebellion failed, and de la Huerta went into exile in Los Angeles, where he survived by giving piano lessons until 1935.

President Lázaro Cardenas appointed him inspector general of Mexican consulates in the United States, a post he held until 1946, when he retired. His son, Adolfo, also became a senator from his home state, and his brother Alfonso was a revolutionary general.

See alsoCalles, Plutarco Elías .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adolfo De La Huerta, Memorias (1957).

John W. F. Dulles, Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936 (1961).

Alvaro Matute, La carrera del caudillo: Historia de la Revolución, período 1917–1924 (1980).

Additional Bibliography

Castro Martínez, Pedro Fernando. Adolfo de la Huerta: la integridad como arma de la revolución. Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa; Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1998.

Castro Martínez, Pedro Fernando. Adolfo de la Huerta y la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de la Revolución Mexicana; Secretaría de Gobernación; Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa, 1992.

Tamayo, Jaime. En el interinato de Adolfo de la Huerta y el gobierno de Alvaro Obregón (1920–1924). Mexico City: Siglo Ventiuno, 1987.

                                        Roderic Ai Camp