The son of the beloved reformist president, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solorzano (born 1934) made two strong runs for the presidency of Mexico against the long entrenched Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In 1997 he was elected Mayor of Mexico City during a landmark election marking the end of 70 years of one-party rule throughout that nation.

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solorzano was born in Mexico City on May 1, 1934. The son of Mexico's legendary reformer President Lázaro Cárdenas, Cuauhtémoc (named for the first Aztec emperor) grew up in his father's shadow. Undoubtedly, Lázaro Cárdenas played a larger role than anyone else in shaping his son's political outlook. The younger Cárdenas' populism derived from his father's reformist policies. Lázaro Cárdenas holds an esteemed position in modern Mexican history because he, more than any...