José Canalejas y Méndez (31 July 1854 – 12 November 1912) was a Spanish politician, born in Ferrol, who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1910 until his assassination in 1912.

Son of a railway engineer, politician and editor of the newspaper El Eco Ferrolano José Canalejas y Casas and of María del Amparo Méndez Romero.

He moved with his family to Madrid, and in October 1867 he enrolled in the Instituto San Isidro, "because at that time the incorporated schools could not teach the last two years of the six which made up the baccalaureate ».

A brief spell as Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce from March to May 1902 ended after only two months, when he resigned as he regarded the Sagasta Ministry weak and "incapable of safeguarding the Sovereignty of the State in view of the encroachments of the Vatican".

[3] While in office, Canalejas (with the support of his sovereign, Alfonso XIII) introduced several electoral reforms that aimed to win working-class support for moderately conservative policies; to curb the power of independent political bosses, quite common at the time, especially in rural areas; to weaken excesses of Catholic educational clericalism without threatening the Catholic Church as such; and to turn Spain into a true democracy.