Jaime Torres Bodet was a prominent
MexicanThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
politician and writer who served in the executive cabinet of three
Presidents of MexicoThe President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
.
A native of
Mexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Torres Bodet was appointed Secretary of Public Education (1943–46) by President
Manuel Ávila CamachoManuel Ávila Camacho served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.Manuel Ávila was born in the city of Teziutlán, a small town in Puebla, to middle-class parents, Manuel Ávila Castillo and Eufrosina Camacho Bello. He had several siblings, among them sister María Jovita Ávila Camacho and...
; he then served as the
Secretary of Foreign AffairsIn Mexico, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs is a member of the federal executive cabinet with responsibility for implementing the country's foreign policy. The secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and heads the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs ...
(1946–1951) under President
Miguel Alemán ValdésMiguel Alemán Valdés served as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.-Life:Alemán was born in Sayula in the state of Veracruz as the son of General Miguel Alemán González and Tomasa Valdés Ledezma...
. Later, in 1958-64, he was again appointed to serve as Secretary of Public Education, this time under President
Adolfo López MateosAdolfo López Mateos was a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964...
.
Between 1929 and the outbreak of the Second World War, Torres Bodet held diplomatic positions in
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
,
The HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
,
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
He served as director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1948 to 1952.
From 1955 to 1958 he was Ambassador to France.
He received the
Medal of Honor Belisario DomínguezThe Order of the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor is the highest award bestowed by the Mexican government...
from the Senate in the year 1971.
He was also a member of the Mexican Language Academy (the national correspondent agency to the Spanish Royal Academy) and of the
National CollegeThe National College is a Mexican honorary academy with a strictly limited membership created by presidential decree in 1943 in order to bring together the country's foremost artists and scientists, who are periodically invited to deliver lectures and seminars in their respective area of speciality...
.
Gravely ill, Torres Bodet committed suicide in Mexico City on 13 May 1974.
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