Deaths on July 17

Álvaro Obregón, Mexican general and politician, 39th President of Mexico (b. 1880)

Álvaro Obregón Salido (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβaɾo oβɾeˈɣon]; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924 and was assassinated in 1928 as President-elect. In the mythology of the Revolution, "Alvaro Obregón stood out as the organizer, the peacemaker, the unifier."A widower with small children and successful farmer, he did not join the Revolution until after the February 1913 coup d'etat against Francisco I. Madero that brought General Victoriano Huerta to the presidency. Obregón supported Sonora's decision to follow Governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza as leader of the northern revolutionary coalition, the Constitutionalist Army, against the Huerta regime. An untrained soldier but natural leader, Obregón rose quickly in the ranks and became the Constitutionalist Army's best general, along with Pancho Villa. Carranza appointed Obregón commander of the revolutionary forces in northwestern Mexico. When the Constitutionalists defeated Huerta in July 1914, and the Federal Army dissolved in August, Villa broke with Carranza, with Obregón remaining loyal to him despite Carranza's conservatism. In the civil war of the winners (1914-15), between Carranza and Obregón on one side and Villa and peasant leader Emiliano Zapata on the other, Obregón decisively defeated Villa's army in 1915. Carranza became the undisputed leader of Mexico. In 1915 Carranza appointed him as his minister of war. Obregón became increasingly disillusioned with the conservative Carranza, whom Obregón believed should have become interim president of Mexico and thus been excluded from election as the constitutional president. Carranza was elected president in 1917, after the promulgation of the new revolutionary Constitution of Mexico. Obregón returned to his ranch Sonora, planning on running for the presidency in the 1920 elections. Since Carranza could not be re-elected and he wished to remain a political force, he designated a civilian political nobody to succeed him. In response, in 1920, Obregón and fellow Sonoran revolutionary generals Plutarco Elías Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta launched a successful revolt against Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Carranza was assassinated while fleeing the capital on a train carrying most of the nation's gold. De la Huerta became interim president until elections were held. Obregón won the presidency with overwhelming popular support.

Obregón's presidency was the first stable presidency since the Revolution began in 1910. He oversaw massive educational reform (with Mexican muralism flourishing), moderate land reform, and labor laws sponsored by the increasingly powerful Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers. In August 1923, he signed the Bucareli Treaty that clarified the rights of the Mexican government and U.S. oil interests and brought U.S. diplomatic recognition to his government. In 1923–24, Obregón's finance minister, Adolfo de la Huerta, launched a rebellion when Obregón designated Calles as his successor. De la Huerta garnered support by many revolutionaries who were opposed to Obregón's apparent emulation of Porfirio Díaz's example. Obregón returned to the battlefield to crush the rebellion. In his victory, he was aided by the United States with arms and 17 U.S. planes that bombed de la Huerta's supporters.In 1924, Obregón's fellow Northern revolutionary general and hand-picked successor, Plutarco Elías Calles, was elected president. Although Obregón ostensibly retired to Sonora, he remained influential under Calles. Calles pushed through constitutional reform to again make re-election possible, but not continuously. Obregón won the 1928 election. He was assassinated that year, before beginning his second term, by a religious fanatic. His assassination precipitated a political crisis in the country, ultimately leading to Calles founding the party that was to hold office continuously until 2000.