After founding the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) in the wake of the assassination of president-elect Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles had unofficially remained in power during the Maximato (1928–1934) and expected to maintain that role when Cárdenas took office.

He mobilized groups to support his positions, creating “political shock troops,” consisting of public school teachers and members of a disbanded agrarian league, forming the Confederación Revolucionaria Michoacana del Trabajo, under the slogan of “Union, Land, Work.” The organization was funded by the state government, although not listed as an official expenditure.

[13] During his four years as governor, Cárdenas initiated a modest re-distribution of land at the state level, encouraged the growth of peasant and labor organizations, and improved education at a time when it was neglected by the federal government.

[14] During his term as governor, Cárdenas sought to bring peace to the state, unite its population divided by the on-going Cristero War, and make Michoacán, especially the historic town of Pátzcuaro into a tourist destination.

[15] Cárdenas built a house in Pátzcuaro when he became governor of the state, naming it "La Quinta Eréndira," after the Purépecha princess, who has been identified as Mexico's first anticolonial heroine for her resistance to the Spanish conquest, and a contrasting figure to Malinche, Cortés's cultural translator.

At his estate, he commissioned murals for the house, which are now lost, but it is known from historical sources that they had indigenous themes, particularly the rise and fall of the Purépecha Empire at the time of the Spanish conquest.

His 25,000-kilometer campaign accomplished several things, including making direct contact with regions and constituents who had never seen a presidential candidate before and thus building Cárdenas a personal power base.

In a move that struck at the financial interests of his patron Calles's cronies, Cárdenas closed down their gambling casinos and brothels, where "prominent Callistas had invested their profits from bribery and industrial activities.

[38] Cárdenas "believed that an organized peasantry would represent a political force capable of confronting the established landholding elite, as well as providing a critical voting block for the new Mexican state.

Morones was forced out of his cabinet post in Calles's government and the CROM declined in power and influence, with major defections of Mexico City unions, one of which was led by socialist Vicente Lombardo Toledano.

A decree was issued “giving binding force throughout the Republic to a collective agreement which establishes a maximum working week of 48 hours for persons employed in sugar-cane plantations, sugar factories (including by-products), and all similar undertakings.” In addition, the Factory Inspection Service was instructed by the Federal authorities “to make arrangements to secure regular and effective supervision of working hours and to prevent infringements of the 8-hour day.” Under an Act of 20 February 1936 that concerned the payment of wages for the weekly rest day, the State authorities “are free to allow for the special circumstances and needs of each locality when promulgating administrative regulations.” An enquiry made by the Department of Labour into silicosis in mines and byssinosis in the cotton industry “led to the adoption of measures to ensure notification and compensation of these diseases.”Regulations dealing with general industrial hygiene were issued on the 6th of June 1936.

Although initially an assimilationist for Mexico's indigenous, he shifted his perspective after a period of residence in a Purépecha village, which he published as Carapan: Bosquejo de una experiencia.

[69][68][71] The government allocated funds to create a special budget for clinics or dispensaries to open up in order to effectively treat patients by administering controlled doses of low-cost, safe, quality drugs.

Cárdenas might have been one of the short-term, powerless presidents of the years 1929–1934, but instead he built a large and mobilized base of support of industrial workers and peasants and forced Calles into exile in 1935.

Curbing the power of the military was instigated by Álvaro Obregón and Calles, but the threat of revolt and undermining of the state remained, as the Cristero Rebellion showed in the late 1920s, led by a former revolutionary general, Enrique Gorostieta.

Thus, the organization of different interest groups with formal representation in the party gave them access to largesse from the State, but also limited their ability to act autonomously since they were dependents of the new system.

Giving more force to Mexican workers' demands, Cárdenas set up the National Oil Administration and the government's Council of Conciliation and Arbitration took jurisdiction over the wage dispute.

The legislation for nationalization provided compensation for the expropriated assets, but Cárdenas' action angered the international business community and Western governments, especially the United Kingdom.

[86] The company that Cárdenas founded, Petróleos Mexicanos (or Pemex), later served as a model for other nations seeking greater control over their oil and natural gas resources.

[95] The last military major revolt in Mexico was that of Saturnino Cedillo, a regional caudillo and former revolutionary general whose power base was in the state of San Luis Potosí.

[96] As a powerbroker with demonstrated military and political skills, he had a great deal of autonomy in San Luis Potosí, serving a term as governor (1927–32), but then modeling Calles's Maximato was the power behind the governorship.

[98] In the elections of 1940, Cárdenas, hoping to prevent another uprising or even "an outright counter-revolution throughout the Republic" by those opposed to his leftist policies,[99] endorsed the PRM nominee Manuel Ávila Camacho, a moderate conservative.

[100][101] Obregonista Francisco Múgica would have been Cárdenas's ideological heir, and he had played an important role in the Revolution, the leader of the left-wing faction that successfully placed key language in the Constitution of 1917, guaranteeing the rights of labor.

[104] Cárdenas may well have hoped Ávila Camacho would salvage some of his progressive policies[100] and be a compromise candidate compared to his conservative opponent, General Juan Andreu Almazán.

[112][113] His inauguration was attended by US Vice President-elect Henry A. Wallace,[112][113] who was appointed by the U.S. as a "special representative with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary" for Mexico, indicating that the U.S. recognized the legitimacy of the election results.

He retired to a modest home by Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, and worked the rest of his life supervising irrigation projects and promoting free medical clinics and education for the nation's poor.

Cárdenas withdrew his public challenge to the PRI's policies and supported López Mateos's designated successor in 1964, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, his Minister of the Interior.

During the troubles that summer, one of Cárdenas's long-time friends, Heberto Castillo, a professor of mechanical engineering at the National University, actively participated in the movement and was pursued by Díaz Ordaz's secret police.

Šetalište Lazaro Kardenasa (Lázaro Cárdenas promenade) in Belgrade, Serbia, is also named after him, as is a street in Barcelona, Spain, and a monument in a park in Madrid dedicated to his memory for his role in admitting defeated Spanish Republicans to Mexico after the Civil War in that country.

He announces no plans, reveals no projects, travels without a detailed itinerary, delivers marvelous speeches when least expected, solves conflicts with the most surprising audacity, and what redeems him, what excuses all his errors, is the fact that he does not kill, does not imprison, fabricates no conspiracies, needs no collaborators willing to confess crimes.