Manuel Ávila Camacho (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈnwel ˈaβila kaˈmatʃo]; 24 April 1897 – 13 October 1955) was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.

"[3] His administration completed the transition from military to civilian leadership, ended confrontational anticlericalism, reversed the push for socialist education, and restored a working relationship with the US during World War II.

Camacho won the controversial presidential election over right-wing candidate and revolutionary-era General Juan Andreu Almazán.

He worked to reduce illiteracy, continued land reform, and declared a rent freeze to benefit low-income citizens.

He promoted election reform and passed a new electoral law in 1946 to make it difficult for opposition parties of the far right and the far left to operate legally.

Mexico provided both raw material for the conflict and also 300,000 guest workers under the Bracero program to replace some of the Americans who had left to fight in the war.

Mexico also resumed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, which had been broken off during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas.

The United States provided Mexico with financial aid for improvements on the railway system and the construction of the Pan American Highway.

[17] In 1951, President Miguel Alemán Valdés, nearing the end of his six-year term, expressed his desire to have the Constitution amended to allow him to be re-elected.

Ávila Camacho and Cárdenas had former president Abelardo L. Rodríguez give a statement that they didn't "think extension of the presidential term or re-election is convenient for the country."