Padilla Peñalosa, Ezequiel (1890–1971)

Ezequiel Padilla Peñalosa (b. 31 December 1890; d. 6 September 1971), leading Mexican diplomat and public figure. A native of Coyuca de Catalán, Guerrero, Padilla graduated from the Sorbonne in constitutional law in 1914 and studied at Columbia University in 1916. A cofounder of the Free Law School in Mexico City, he served in the Revolution under Francisco Villa, leaving Mexico in 1916. On his return to Mexico, he entered politics, becoming a federal deputy in 1922. In 1928 he joined Emilio Portes Gil's cabinet as secretary of education. After his 1930 appointment as minister to Italy, he returned to the Chamber of Deputies in 1932 and to the Senate in 1934. From 1940 to 1945 he was secretary of foreign relations, playing a key role in promoting continental unity during World War II. He provided leadership at the 1942 Rio De Janeiro Conference, a benchmark in wartime inter-American relations. In 1946 he resigned his post to run as the opposition presidential candidate of the Mexican Democratic Party after failing to obtain the nomination of his own party. He remained politically inactive for the next two decades, serving once again as senator shortly before his death.

See alsoMexico: Since 1910 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Betty Kirk, Covering the Mexican Front (1942).

Josephus Daniels, Shirt-Sleeve Diplomat (1947), New York Times, 8 September 1971, 48.

Additional Bibliography

Paz Salinas, María Emilia. Strategy, Security, and Spies: Mexico and the U.S. as Allies in World War II. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

                                            Roderic Ai Camp