Pedro Lascuráin

Pedro José Domingo de la Calzada Manuel María Lascuráin Paredes (8 May 1856 – 21 July 1952) was a Mexican politician who served as the 38th president of Mexico for 45 minutes on 19 February 1913, the shortest presidency in history. The grandson of Mariano Paredes, the 15th president of Mexico, Lascuráin previously served as Mexico's foreign secretary for two terms and was the director of a small law school in Mexico City for 16 years.

Early life
Pedro José Domingo de la Calzada Manuel María Lascuráin Paredes was born in 1856 in the Rancho la Romita (now Colonia Roma) in Mexico City. He was the son of Francisco Lascuráin Icaza and Ana Paredes Cortés. His family was wealthy and very religious. His family was of Basque origin by maternal line, established in Mexico in the early 19th century. His maternal grandfather was Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, who served as the 15th president of Mexico from 1845 to 1846.

In 1890, Lascuráin married María Enriqueta Flores y Manzanera, the daughter of Juan Manuel Flores, a governor of Durango during the Porfiriato.

Early career


Lascuráin received a law degree in 1880 from the Escuela Nacional de Jurisprudencia (National School of Jurisprudence) in Mexico City. He was mayor of Mexico City in 1910 when Francisco I. Madero began a campaign against the re-election of Porfirio Díaz. Lascuráin was a supporter of Madero, and after Madero was elected president to replace Díaz, Lascuráin served twice as foreign secretary in Madero's cabinet, from 10 April 1912 to 4 December 1912, and from 15 January 1913 to 19 February 1913. In between the two terms, he again was the mayor of Mexico City. As foreign secretary, he had to deal with the demands of Henry Lane Wilson, the United States ambassador to Mexico.

Presidency
On 19 February 1913, general Victoriano Huerta overthrew Madero. Lascuráin was one of the people who convinced Madero to resign the presidency while he was being held prisoner in the National Palace and claimed that his life was in danger if he refused.

Under the 1857 Constitution of Mexico, the vice president, the attorney general, the foreign secretary, and the interior secretary stood in line to the presidency. As well as Madero, Huerta had ousted vice president José María Pino Suárez and attorney general Adolfo Valles Baca. To give the coup d'état some appearance of legality, he had Lascuráin assume the presidency, who would then appoint him as his interior secretary, making Huerta next in line to the presidency, and then resign.

The presidency thus passed to Huerta. As a consequence, Lascuráin was president for less than an hour; sources quote figures ranging from 15 to 56 minutes, making his presidency the shortest in history.

Huerta called a late-night special session of Congress, and under the guns of his troops, the legislators endorsed his assumption of power. A few days later, Huerta had Madero and Pino Suárez killed. The coup and the events surrounding it became known as the Ten Tragic Days.

Later life
Huerta offered Lascuráin a post in his cabinet, but Lascuráin declined. He retired from politics and began practicing again as a lawyer. He was the director of the Escuela Libre de Derecho, a conservative law school, for 16 years and published extensively on commercial and civil law. Lascuráin died on 21 July 1952.