Juan Domingo Peron (8 October 1895-1 July 1974) was President of Argentina from 4 June 1946 to 21 September 1955 (succeeding Edelmiro Julian Farrell and preceding Eduardo Lonardi) and from 12 October 1973 to 1 July 1974 (succeeding Raul Alberto Lastiri and preceding Isabel Peron). Peron came to prominence while serving as an officer in the Argentine Army in the aftermath of the 1943 Argentine coup d'etat, and he used populist rhetoric to draw support from both the left and right of Argentine politics. In particular, he claimed to champion the descamisados (the working class), and Juan and his wife Eva Peron were very popular during Juan Peron's first presidency. He was ousted in a 1955 military coup, but returned in 1973 before dying in office.
Biography[]
Peron in 1943
Juan Domingo Peron was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of Spanish, French-Basque, and Sardinian ancestry. A colonel in the Argentinian Army, he took part in the 1943 Argentine coup d'etat which ousted Ramon Castillo from the presidency. He became Secretary of Labor in the new regime, a position which he used with his politically astute wife Eva Peron to gain popular support among old laboring groups, new urban residents, and recent migrants from the countryside.
First presidency[]
A Peron election poster
This coalition ensured his victory in the presidential elections of 1946. He immediately used the postwar economic boom to improve the living standards of the workers and laborers at the expense of large landowners. He nationalized the foreign-controlled railways, the docks, and the largest telephone company, and by 1947 he had paid off Argentina's entire foreign debt. From 1949 the economy performed badly. After his triumphant election victory of 1951, when he was re-elected with 67% of the vote, his popularity waned rapidly. In 1952, his popular wife, Evita, died of cancer. In 1955 he tried to improve his standing through fuelling general hostility against the Catholic Church, which led to mass demonstrations and the burning down of several cathedrals on the other hand, and to Peron's excommunication on the other. Since the Peronist government appeared to be increasingly out of control, the military ordered him to leave the country or risk civil war, so in 1955 he fled to Paraguay and then on to Spain.
Return to power[]
Following years of polittical unrest, social strife, and economic instability, Peron was seen as a last chance to save his country from ruin when he was re-elected in 1973 with 62% of the vote. The ensuing economic recovery and social stability were short-lived because of the economic crisis that set in in 1974 following the oil-price shock. After his death he was succeeded by his third wife, Isabel Peron.