José López Portillo (born 1920) served as president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982. Responsible for the development of the Mexican petroleum industry, his administration was also beset with wide-ranging corruption.

José López Portillo was born in the Federal District of Mexico City, Mexico, on June 16, 1920. The violent decade of the Mexican Revolution had just ended, and he was able to pursue his primary and secondary education without the interruptions experienced by fellow Mexicans only slightly older. Having finished his secondary education with excellent results at Mexico City's National Preparatory School, López Portillo received a political science scholarship from the Chilean government and used it to earn a law degree from the University of Santiago, Chile. An advanced law degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México prepared him to teach law at that same institution. He served as...