An overview of the rule of Juan Peron in Argentina and the legacy of Peronism.
This paper examines how, in June 1943, Juan Domingo Peron suddenly burst onto the Argentine political scene as the new “strongman” behind the military junta that took power and how, although previously unknown, he was to become the pivot around which Argentina’s power struggles would revolve for the next three decades. It looks at how Peron represented himself as a leader for the common people, how his administration-embezzled funds, stole from the workers ,and how, with the help of his wife, Eva Peron, who became a spiritual symbol for the nation, he reigned over Argentina until after her death. His government was overthrown by a military coup in 1955.
The rise of Juan Peron was as Vadney put it a lucky break. As a result of the coup in 1943, ?few of the officers involved had any better ideas about how to manage the new political classes that had been forming over the last several decades. However, one among their number did. This was Juan Peron.? As a member of the War Department, Peron was in a position to influence appointments in the army and thus to increase his personal following among the officer corps. In addition, the Labor Department provided an opportunity to cultivate the masses, mainly by intervening in strikes to win settlements favorable to the working class and by co-opting the trade union leadership.