Ávila Camacho, Manuel [key], 1897–1955, president of Mexico (1940–46). As a young man, Ávila Camacho joined the revolutionary forces. Later he became brigadier general. Under Lázaro Cárdenas he became (1938) minister of national defense. As president he followed a middle-of-the-road policy based on the agricultural, industrial, and educational reforms begun by Cárdenas. During World War II, he cooperated with the United States in programs of hemisphere defense, reciprocal trade, and agricultural labor exchange and sent (1945) a Mexican air squadron to fight in the Pacific.
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