Argentina 1946

Synopsis

Juan Domingo Perón ranks as the most important figure in the political life of twentieth-century Argentina. First elected to the Argentine presidency in 1946 as an economic populist, Perón retained his popularity with the majority of workers by inaugurating massive social spending schemes, many of which were sponsored in the name of his wife, Eva Perón. His years in office also entailed widespread political repression as he stifled his opponents and kept a firm grip on his trade union supporters. Eva Perón's death, coupled with deteriorating economic conditions, contributed to Perón's ouster in 1955, when he fled to Spain. Even after Perón went into exile, Perónism lived on with massive government outlays on public projects, even as the economy failed to keep pace with Argentina's Latin American neighbors. Perónism's political legacy included...