The rise of Juan Perón

Using fraud and force when necessary, the governments of the 1930s (then retrospectively known as Década Infame, the Infamous Decade) attempted to contain the currents of economic and political change that eventually led to the ascendance of Juan Domingo Perón. New social and political forces were seeking political power, including a modern military and labor movements that emerged from the growing urban working class.

The military ousted Argentina’s constitutional government in 1943. Perón, then an army colonel, was one of the coup’s leaders, and soon became the government’s dominant figure as Minister of Labor. Mass protests in 1945 led to Perón’s victory in elections on February 20, 1946. He aggressively pursued policies aimed at giving an economic and political voice to the working class and greatly expanded the number of unionized workers. In 1947, Perón announced the first five-year plan based on the growth of nationalized industries. He helped establish the powerful General Confederation of Labor (Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT). Perón’s dynamic wife, Eva Perón, known as Evita, was a former actress from a working class background. Evita helped her husband develop strength with labor and women’s groups. Through her influence, women obtained the right to vote in 1947. Her death from cancer in 1952 cost Perón a key political ally.

In 1949, Perón pushed through a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a second term, which he won in 1952, but a military coup (Revolución Libertadora) led by Eduardo Lonardi deposed him in 1955. He was forced into exile, eventually settling in Francoist Spain. Even in exile, he remained popular with the Argentine masses.

Next: Struggle between Peronist and anti-Peronist forces

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The rise of Juan Perón

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