Juan Domingo Perón

Perón, Juan Domingo 

Born Oct. 8, 1895, in Lobos; died July 1, 1974, in Buenos Aires. Argentine political leader and head of state.

A professional military man, Perón served as military attaché in Chile in 1936 and 1937. He spent the years 1937–40 in Europe, observing military training methods. From 1941 to 1943 he was a leader of the Grupo de Oficiales Unidos, an organization of army officers, which carried out a coup d’etat in Argentina in June 1943. Between 1943 and 1945, Perón was head secretary of the ministry of war, secretary of labor, and vice-president. From 1946 to 1955 he was president. In 1947 he founded the Peronist Party, which in 1955 was renamed the Justicialist Party. Taking advantage of the favorable economic situation that developed during and after World War II, Perón was able to satisfy some of the demands of the national bourgeoisie, especially in regard to foreign trade. He also made a number of concessions to the masses, the most important being the granting of wage increases to certain categories of workers.

Although he made use of anti-imperialist and nationalist slogans, Perón gradually gave in to pressure by imperialist US monopolies. The most reactionary circles in the country, taking advantage of the increasing dissatisfaction of the workers and middle strata, overthrew Perón in September 1955. Perón was an émigré in Spain from 1955 until June 1973. In September 1973 he once again became president of Argentina.

REFERENCES

Codovilla, V. Izbr. stat’i i rechi. Moscow, 1970.
Ghioldi, R. “Peronizm i problemy bor’by progressivnykh sil za sozdanie edinogo fronta.” Latinskaia Amerika, 1972, no. 6; 1973, no. 1.