Veracruz and Virginia: Land of presidents

By José Alberto Gaytán García*

In the state of Veracruz eight distinguished leaders were born who were fortunate enough to excel in their political careers and become presidents of Mexico, they were: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Francisco Javier Echeverria, Jose Joaquin de Herrera, Jose Ignacio Pavon, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, Francisco Lagos Chazaro, Miguel Aleman Valdes and Adolfo Ruiz Cortines.

Santa Anna
(1833-1855)

Across the Rio Grande, in the state of Virginia, eight distinguished leaders were also born whose fate and political circumstances helped them to become presidents of the most powerful country on earth, the United States, they were: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson. Thus, the states of Veracruz and Virginia are within the historic framework between Mexico and the United States, the only states in whose territory more presidents were born. Indeed, in no other state of the American Union and in no other state in the Mexican Republic have many presidents been born, the closest states are Ohio with seven presidents and Sonora and Coahuila with five each.

Veracruz and Virginia: Land of presidents is the title of the book that Misantla Technology will publish shortly in order to raise funds to equip their library and also in order to promote the subject of comparative studies of the Presidents of Veracruz since in Mexico there is no current research on presidential studies, unlike the United States where foundations, universities and research centers with formidable libraries of presidential studies published hundreds of books on the life and work of their presidents .

George Washington
(1789-1797)

Covered with dust in “basements and hallways” of the history of Mexico, exist useful lessons on the successes and failures committed in the past by our leaders, lessons that we should know, review and re-read. This book provides, among other interesting aspects, various anecdotes about the personalities of the presidents, as well as valuable references on the electoral process that led them to power, including the creation of the Electoral College of the United States, an electoral establishment that under a complex system of indirect voting, for over two hundred years has peacefully elected their president, as was the case of the first election of 1789, in which George Washington, the Father of the Nation, was elected the first President of the United States.

This research responds to mandatory questions, such as: Who were these men? To what did they before becoming president? How long were they in power? What end did they have? For example, there was one who only ruled a month compared to another who was president eleven times. This leader provoked countless political and military actions and who was undoubtedly the ruler who aroused the most passion, admiration among the people of his time, as shown in this review. The book quotes the article “Triumphant Arches” written by a journalist at the time, in that article the personality of that leader is questioned with excessive rhetoric “…Who is he? Is he Lycurgus, who comes from successful trips to the east, where he learned the Egyptian philosophy and the Cretan laws? Is he perhaps Alcibiades, who defeated his enemies with troops much smaller in number? Perhaps he is Columbus, who against the cowardly cries of his sailors goes to the discovery of a new world? Perhaps don Pedro “the Cruel”? Perhaps “Prester John of the Indies”?…” The columnist after resolving that Antonio de Padua y María Severino López de Santa Anna Pérez de Lebrón was not one of those gentlemen for whom he was asking, ends his article stating that “the Caesar of Tampico”, “the Hero of Panuco”, “the Napoleon of the West”, “the Idolater of Freedom”, “the Phoenix of Manga de Clavo”, his “Serene Highness”, was what everyone already knew: “a guy who did not accept his guilt and in exile only remembered the infamies of his enemies”.

I invite you to learn more about our presidents reading the book Veracruz and Virginia: Land of presidents.

jalbertogaytangarcia@gmail.com
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José Alberto Gaytan

José Alberto Gaytán García ha escrito artículos y ensayos de corte académico en diarios y revistas de México y de los Estados Unidos; ha participado en importantes proyectos académicos e impartido conferencias sobre temas de historia, tecnología y educación en el marco de las relaciones entre México y los Estados Unidos, tema en el cual realizó sus estudios de doctorado en The Graduate School of Internacional Studies de la Universidad de Miami.