Creelman Interview

Creelman Interview, an interview given by Mexican president Porfirio Díaz (1876–1880, 1884–1911) to the U.S. journalist James Creelman of Pearson's Magazine and published on 17 February 1908. It subsequently appeared in Spanish in the Mexico City newspaper El Imparcial on 3 March 1908. In it Díaz revealed his plans to retire from the presidency following the June 1910 election, when he would be eighty years old. He also called for the formation of opposition political parties, which effectively had been banned during his thirty-year dictatorship.

The purpose of Díaz's statement most likely was to calm both external and internal criticism of his rule. Others claim that Díaz expected his offer to resign to be met with demands from his supporters that he remain in power. Finally, it may have been designed to bring into the open those who opposed him. Whatever the motive, Díaz made a mistake, as the interview stimulated long-dormant political activity in the country resulting in his overthrow in May 1911.

See alsoDíaz, Porfirio .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrón, Luis. Historias de la Revolución mexicana. México, D.F.: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, 2004.

Cumberland, Charles C. Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero (1952).

Gonzales, Michael J. The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1940. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.

Ross, Stanley R. Francisco I. Madero: Apostle of Mexican Democracy (1955), esp. pp. 46-48.

                                        David LaFrance