The future head of Argentina, Juan Peron, was born on October 8, 1895 in Buenos Aires in a middle-class family. As a young man, he entered the military academy. It was thanks to the army that Peron began his political career.
Early years
Juan Peron has come a very thorny path to fame. In 1936-1938. he was a military attache at the Argentine embassy in Chile. This was followed by a move to Italy. There Peron began to study military affairs in the mountains. The Argentinean spent a semester at the University of Turin. Peron Juan Domingo returned to his homeland in 1941.
At that time, Argentina was going through a severe economic crisis. Social tension reigned in the country, society lost the levers of power management. Under these conditions, a military coup became inevitable. On June 4, 1943, the awakened residents of Buenos Aires learned that the soldiers of the capital's garrison had surrounded the residence of the government, and the former president, Ramon Castillo, had fled in an unknown direction.
On the road to power
Perón was one of the organizers of the 1943 military coup. By that time, he was already a colonel, although he was not widely known among the masses. After the overthrowthe previous government Juan Peron became Minister of Labor. In his post, he actively interacted with existing trade unions and created new ones in those industries where they did not yet exist. This man initiated the "fair labor" law and other popular innovations.
The main pillars of Perón's support were radicals, Labor and the Church. He also sympathized with some of the nationalists. At the end of 1945 Perón Juan Domingo entered the presidential race. His victory was facilitated by the inept social policy of the opposition authorities. Peron himself shone with bright speeches without a jacket, in which he called for the construction of a state helping the poor and actively intervening in the economy. He embodied the hopes for a new Argentina - a country that was not affected by the Second World War and became a haven for many European migrants.
New national leader
Juan Perón took office on June 4, 1946, and in 1952 he was re-elected for a second term. The new president has built an autarky-prone economic system. Under him, the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises began. At this time, Argentina was actively exporting goods (mainly oilseeds and grains) to war-torn Europe.
As promised by Juan Peron, the national hero-dictator did a lot to get the state to intervene in the economy, in which it had previously played a rather minor role. First of all, the government took control of all railways, gas and electricity. Muchthe number of civil servants has increased. Campaigns for price regulation began (businessmen who raised prices were punished, certain industries were subsidized). The economic and political course of Argentina under Peron was called "Peronism".
Unfulfilled hopes
When he came to power, Peron believed that soon the US and the USSR would unleash a third world war. Such a conflict would again benefit Argentina, whose demand for goods would only increase. In 1950, the Korean War began, and Peron, in his articles published in the Democracy newspaper, prophesied that it would develop into a world war. The president was wrong.
The problem was that Perón's tough economic policies could not bear fruit indefinitely. Autarky was only effective as a transitional measure. Now Argentina needed something new. Perón's second hope, apart from a world war, was the emergence of an influential national bourgeoisie. It was she who could create new industry and jobs that did not need state subsidies. Such a strong bourgeoisie did not appear in Argentina. Entrepreneurs were cautious, they were afraid to invest in new production and tried to stay in the country's traditional sectors of the economy.
Second term
The failure of Peron's hopes for the market situation led to the fact that throughout his first presidential term, the country simply ate up the money accumulated and earned during the difficult post-war years for it. Following his re-election for a new six-year term, the head of state decided to change the political course. By that timethe first signs of an economic crisis have already appeared, for example, the peso began to depreciate. In addition, in 1951-1952. a drought swept the country, destroying much of the grain crop.
During his first term, Juan Domingo Perón - Argentinean hope for the vast majority of the country's population and national leader - did not hesitate to be an authoritarian ruler who fought dissent. The first step in this direction in 1948 was the trial of the Supreme Court judges, who were charged with political charges. Perón then initiated constitutional reform. The new main law of the country, adopted in 1949, allowed the president to be re-elected for a second term.
Foreign policy
In the international arena, the president of Argentina was torn between two superpowers - the USA and the USSR. Today it is believed that the forerunner of the modern non-aligned movement was the "third way" that Juan Peron chose. The biography of the national leader, as noted above, was associated with Europe. He wanted to talk on an equal footing with the United States (in the first post-war years, Argentina was considered one of the largest economies in the world). As a result, Perón publicly distanced himself from both superpowers.
Argentina did not join the International Monetary Fund and other similar organizations. At the same time, its UN diplomats almost always voted in the same way as the US. In many ways, the "third way" was just rhetoric, not full-fledged politics.
Beginning of the end
In 1953, duringDuring one of Perón's public appearances in Buenos Aires, several explosions occurred. In response to the attack, police raids began. The authorities took advantage of this opportunity to crack down on the opposition (Conservative, Socialist and other parties). Soon, workers' strikes began in the country. The Peronists tried to hush up the facts about the unrest. The controlled newspapers did not publish articles about the riots taking place throughout the country.
Conflict with the Church
At the end of 1954, Peron probably made his main mistake. He delivered a speech in which he accused the Argentine Catholic Church of becoming a hotbed of influence for the opposition, which must be fought. The first religious persecution began.
At first the church tried not to respond to Perón's attacks. However, following his speech in the press, an unprecedented anti-clerical campaign unfolded. As a result, the church really began to unite the opposition. Peaceful religious processions turned into noisy political demonstrations. The authorities began to pass anti-church laws (abolished compulsory Catholic lessons in schools, etc.).
Coup
In the tense situation, the military decided to have their say. They did not like the policy that Juan Domingo Peron led. The president's biography, no matter how legendary it was before, could not excuse his new mistakes. The first assassination attempt took place on June 16, 1955. Navy planes bombed Maiskaya Square, where Perón was supposed to be. Organizersattacks failed. The bombing killed hundreds of innocent people. On that day, Buenos Aires experienced a new wave of church pogroms.
On September 16, a mutiny was raised in Cordoba. Frightened (or not wanting bloodshed), Peron took refuge in the Paraguayan embassy. The seemingly indestructible regime fell apart in a few days. Those events were called in Argentina "Liberation Revolution". General Eduardo Lonardi became President.
Return to power
After the coup, Peron managed to move abroad. He settled in Spain, where he lived for nearly two decades. During this time, Argentina changed its political course several times. One government replaced another, and in the meantime, nostalgia for the old Peronian times grew among the masses every year. The country suffered from guerrilla movements and was even on the verge of collapse.
From abroad, in the early 1970s, Peron established the Justicialist Liberation Front, a movement that included the Peronists themselves, as well as nationalists, conservatives, and part of the supporters of socialism. In the new presidential elections of 1973, the longtime national hero won a landslide victory. He returned to his homeland the day before - when his supporters already controlled the government and the danger of reprisals or political persecution disappeared. Juan Peron, whose brief biography was distinguished by numerous dramatic turns, died on July 1, 1974. His third term did not even last a year.
Private life and interestingfacts
In the 40s, his wife Eva (or Evita) enjoyed no less popularity among the people than the national leader. She led the Women's Peronist Party. In 1949, Argentine women gained the right to vote. Juan and Evita Peron were able to deliver fiery speeches that led the supporters of Peronism into almost religious ecstasy. The first lady's charitable foundation actually performed the functions of the ministry of social development. Eva Peron died in 1952 at the age of 33. Her cause of death was uterine cancer.
Eva was the second wife of Peron. His first wife Aurelia died in 1938. The third time Peron got married was in 1961. Isabel became the chosen one of the emigrant. When the old politician ran for president again in 1973, his wife ran as vice president. After Perón's death, she took over the vacant post. The woman did not last long in power. Less than two years later, on March 24, 1976, the army carried out another military coup that overthrew Isabel. The generals sent her to Spain. The 85-year-old woman lives there to this day.
