Jaime Torres Bodet

Who was Jaime Torres Bodet?

Jaime Torres Bodet was a prominent Mexican politician and writer who served in the executive cabinet of three Presidents of Mexico.

A native of Mexico City, in the 1920s he was a prominent member of the literary group Los Contemporáneos.

Torres Bodet was appointed Secretary of Public Education by President Manuel Ávila Camacho; he then served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs under President Miguel Alemán Valdés. Later, in 1958–64, he was again appointed to serve as Secretary of Public Education, this time under President Adolfo López Mateos.

Between 1929 and the outbreak of the Second World War, Torres Bodet held diplomatic positions in Madrid, The Hague, Paris, Buenos Aires and Brussels. He served as director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from 1948 to 1952. From 1955 to 1958 he was Ambassador to France.

He received the Medal of Honor Belisario Domínguez from the Senate in 1971.

He was also a member of the Mexican Language Academy and of the National College.

Gravely ill, Torres Bodet committed suicide in Mexico City on 13 May 1974.