Adolfo Ruiz Cortines was born the December 30, 1889 in the state of Veracruz. His parents were Adolfo Ruiz Tejada, the governor of Veracruz at that time, and María Cortines Cotera. Ruiz’s father Adolfo Ruiz Tejada died when he was young. Then Adolfo was raised and educated by his mother.

His mother taught him to write and to read at the age of 3. Later, he entered to a school directed by Joaquín Jerónimo Diaz and Florencio Veyro. Adolfo Ruiz Cortines studied high School at the “Colegio de los Jesuitas” considered the best school in the state of Veracruz. Adolfo learned from his mentors about liberalism, a political principle he would apply during his whole political career. In addition, Adolfo also acquired his fanaticism for baseball there. Ruiz at the age of twelve attended the “Instituto de Veracruz” where he studied accounting. Adolfo Ruiz Cortines always wanted to study at university but the circumstances never allowed him to do so. At the age of 16 he was forced to leave his formal studies. Adolfo, the older man of his family found a job as an accounting assistant at a commercial clothing enterprise to support his family.

In 1909 Adolfo read the book "La sucesión presidencial de 1910 (The presidential Succession of 1910)” written by Francisco I. Madero and published in 1909, the leader of the opposition against the presidency of General Diaz. This book motivated his interest in politics. In 1910 the Mexican Revolution started and he became influenced by several of it’s main players such as Pascual Orozco and Francisco Villa. Because of this influence in the year of 1912 at the age of 23 he migrated to Mexico City. During his stay in Mexico City, President Madero was assassinated and Victoriano Huerta took power. Since he was against Huerta he joined revolutionary forces under the command of Alfredo Robles the right hand of the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza. Robles was in charge of the revolutionary forces in the south and center of Mexico.

In 1935 at 45 years of age Adolfo started his political career as the director in charge of Mexico City. It was during that time when he met Miguel Alemán Váldez a young lawyer that would become president of Mexico. Five years later the president Manuel Ávila Camacho designated Miguel Aleman as "Minister of Government" (Secretario de Gobernación), an important position. Miguel Aleman asked Adolfo to join him as his sub - secretary because of their close relation. This position gave Adolfo the opportunity to obtain influence within the main political party at that time [Institutional Revolutionary Party] “PRI”. After several years the PRI designated him as candidate for the government of Veracruz.

On December 1944 Adolfo Ruiz Cortines became governor of Veracruz. During his administration, he expanded public education in the state. Some of the institutions he founded were the Technical Studies Institute (Departamento para estudios técnicos) which provided people with a practical education that allowed them to improve their life quality. Furthermore, he founded the Institute of Anthropology, the State Planning Committee among others. He also modified the local Constitution to allow women to participate in the local and municipal elections. He built roads and bridges to develop Veracruz's infrastructure since it was one of the main ports of Mexico at that time.

On October 14, 1951, Ruiz Cortines was named candidate for the presidency by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The people gave him their support in the polls. On December 10, 1952, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines took over the presidency of the republic. He exercised tight control of public expenditure, supported the construction of roads, railways, dams, schools and hospitals. He also implemented a plan called "March to the Sea", which the aim of carrying coastal population of the highlands to the coast, and make better use and development of marine resources, coastal zones. Under this program malaria was eradicated. He created the Rural Social Welfare Program to improve the living conditions of the rural population and encouraged land distribution. Large foreign estates were expropriated. Furthermore he implemented the Farm Security to protect farmers from natural disasters.

At the beginning of his term, President Ruiz Cortines sent a bill to amend Article 34 of the Constitution, in order to grant women equal political rights with men, this granted the vote to Mexican women. In order to promote measures to meet the need of homes, he created the National Housing Institute, gave a stimulus to industry, particularly small and medium sized, laid the foundation for the development of the petrochemical industry and promoted the creation of jobs.

In response to the technical advances in the field of nuclear energy, and considering that Mexico could not remain unaffected by this development he created the National Nuclear Energy Commission. Primary and secondary education were boosted greatly. He specially supported the polytechnic university. Adolfo equipped the facilities of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and began subsidies to support universities through the republic.

Another primary goal of his government was to improve the health of men and women of Mexico. Therefore he fought children malnutrition and promoted an immunization campaign.

Ruiz Cortines turned his attention to social problems and imposed an era of austerity in the Mexican government. He modified the law in order to promote responsibility and honesty among public servants since there was a lot of corruption. Ruiz Cortines created a law that forced public servants to declare their assets before beginning to work in the government. Ruiz’s purpose was to compare the public servants fortune before and after their participation in public charges to combat illicit enrichment and corruption.

Ruiz's government decided to reduce public spending to consolidate public finances and fight inflation. This policy allowed Mexico's economy to grow at an enormous rate. For the first time in many years the Mexican government generated a budget surplus. Unfortunately, in1953 private investment went down and Ruiz Cortines lost popularity. He reoriented his policy towards boosting production.

During Ruiz's term Mexico had cold diplomatic relationships with the United States of America. This was because Ruiz refused to make any agreements that committed Mexico's participation in international wars. During his term Ruiz completed the construction of projects like Falcon dam, built with a 58.6% equity and 41.4% Mexican American funds. In 1956, Ruiz attended a meeting with President Dwight Eisenhower and Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent of Canada. During the interview the leaders discussed immigration issues, economic cooperation, civil aviation and illegal fishing in coastal areas. In general, President Ruiz's foreign policy was conservative and respectful of the sovereignty of other nations. And although he was a kind man, he had differences of opinion with other leaders during his time.

On December 10, 1958 Adolfo handed over power to his successor Adolfo Lopez Mateo. After this he left politics and retired to his private life at a late stage of his life. In his last days, his friend Manuel Caldelas Garcia, a politician whom he had known in his youth, began living with him at his home in Veracruz. Caldelas helped with household chores and took care of former President Ruiz Cortines. On the afternoon of December 3, 1973, the health status of Ruiz Cortines became critical. Dr. Mario Díaz Tejeda went to the home to treat the former president. When the drugs took effect, Ruiz Cortines fell asleep. At 21:05 am on Monday, December 3, 1973, Tomás Adolfo Ruiz Cortines died at 82 years old of heart failure caused by arteriosclerosis.