José Vasconcelos
| José Vasconcelos | |
|---|---|
José Vasconcelos in 1914
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| Secretary of Public Education | |
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In office 28 September 1921 – 1924 |
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| President | Álvaro Obregón |
| Succeeded by | Bernardo J. Gastélum |
| Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico | |
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In office 1920–1921 |
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| Preceded by | Balbino Dávalos |
| Succeeded by | Mariano Silva |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
José Vasconcelos Calderón 28 February 1882 Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Died | 30 June 1959 (aged 77) Mexico City |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Political party | National Anti-Reelectionist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Serafina Miranda (married in 1906, died 1942) Esperanza Cruz (married 1942). |
| Children | José and Carmen; Héctor |
| Alma mater | National School of Jurisprudence (ENJ) |
| Profession | Writer, philosopher and politician |
| Religion | Christian |
José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959) has been called the "cultural caudillo" of the Mexican Revolution He was an important Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities in the development of modern Mexico. His philosophy of the "cosmic race" affected all aspects of Mexican sociocultural, political, and economic policies.
José Vasconcelos was born in Oaxaca, Oaxaca on February 28, 1882, the son of a customs official. José's mother, who was a pious Catholic, died when José was sixteen. The family moved to the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, where he grew up attending school in Eagle Pass, Texas. He became bilingual in English and Spanish, which opened doors to the English-speaking world. The family also lived in Campeche during a period when the northern border area was unstable. His time in living on the Texas border likely contributed to fostering his idea of the Mexican "cosmic race" and rejection of Anglo culture.
He married Serafina Miranda of Tlaxiaco in the state of Oaxaca in 1906, when he was twenty-four. With her he had children José Ignacio and Carmen. He also had a long-term relationship with Elena Arizmendi Mejia and through life, many other shorter liaisons, including one with Berta Singerman.His troubled relationship with Antonieta Rivas Mercado led to her suicide inside Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral in 1931. When his wife of forty years died in 1942, their daughter Carmen is reported saying "When the coffin was lowered into the ground, Vasconcelos sobbed bitterly. At that moment he must have known and felt who he really had as a wife; perhaps they were tears of belated repentance." He remarried pianist Esperanza Cruz and they had a child, Héctor.
Although Vasconcelos was interested in studying philosophy, Mexican universities during the Porfiriato focused on the sciences, influenced by French positivism. Vasconcelos attended the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, an elite high school, going on to Escuela de Jurisprudencia in Mexico City (1905). In law school, he became involved with radical students organized as the Ateneo de la Juventud (Youth Atheneum). The Ateneo de Juventud was led by a Dominican citizen, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, who had read Uruguayan essayist José Enrique Rodó's Ariel, an influential work published in 1900 that was opposed to Anglo U.S. cultural influence, but also emphasized the redemptive power of education. The Anteneo de la Juventud had a diverse membership, composed of university professors, artists, other professionals, and students. Some other members included Isidro Fabela and Diego Rivera. It was opposed to the Díaz regime and formulated arguments against it and the regime's emphasis on positivism by employing French spiritualism, which articulated "a new vision of the relationship between individual and society."
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