 Presidents like Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Lázaro Cárdenas wanted to perpetuate the teachings of the Revolution and solidify revolutionary ideals into Mexican society.But after the Mexican Revolution the government not only wanted to solidify the Revolution's ideals, it also wanted to improve the government and elevate the status of Mexico to a modern, First World power.In the 1940s they began "to industrialize the country, by means of an import-substitution policy...displacing the traditional center of gravity, which had been the countryside, to the cities".