Juan Perón: Difference between revisions

Line 1:

==Biography==

~~===First two terms===~~

In 1946, Perón ran for the presidency on an anti-imperialist, anti-oligarchic, pro-social justice, [[Cold War]] neutrality, and populist platform, supported by the CGT. He portrayed himself as a nationalist hero, and characterized his opponent, José Tamborini, as a puppet of US Ambassador Spruille Braden (his campaign slogan was, in fact, "Braden or Perón"). Perón won by a landslide.

After [[World War II]], with Europe in ruins, Perón's ambition was to transform Argentina into a superpower. He nationalized/expropriated several foreign companies (mostly British-owned) in order to achieve complete autarky, launched a five-year plan focused on economic growth and infrastructure, and started developing a nuclear program on Huemul Island.

He remained sympathetic to fascism, and granted asylum to many [[Nazi]] [[War crimes|war criminal]]s and collaborators as part of his own version of Operation Paperclip, most notably [[Adolf Eichmann]], [[Josef Mengele]], Croatian dictator [[Ante Pavelić]] (leader of the [[Ustaše]]) and Otto Skorzeny, the former [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] bodyguard and ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' officer who rescued [[Benito Mussolini]] from house arrest in 1943; Skorzeny was Perón's close advisor and Evita's bodyguard (and, presumably, even her lover). However, Perón himself wasn't anti-semitic.

Perón's regime was certainly repressive and intolerant of opposition, but not in a murderous way. He favored [[censorship|media suppression]], and intimidation, persecution, imprisonment and [[torture]] of prominent critics both left and right over straight-up forced disappearances. But that slowly began to change following the 1947 [[Rincón Bomba massacre]], a brutal eviction of members of the indigenous Pilagá people, which technically constitutes [[genocide]].

Despite not being exactly a feminist icon, Perón granted women the right to vote and promoted Evita's social labor. His wife revealed herself as a very skilled politician in her own right and was considered by many to be the regime's second-in-command. She was loved by the poor, the sick and the elderly, and hated by the elite (the Peróns and their supporters derisively referred to them as "gorillas").

Both Perón and Evita developed a [[cult of personality]]. One children's public school book contained lines such as, "In the new Argentina, everyone is happy. Everyone feels happy. This is because of Perón's government. That's why every Argentine loves the Leader with all their soul".

In 1947, Perón established Ciudad Evita, a city near Buenos Aires whose street layout was intentionally designed in the shape of Evita's profile. August 31, the day Evita gave a shocking radio speech announcing that she would not run as her husband's Vice-President in 1951 (because of her health problems), was made an unofficial national holiday ("Renunciamiento Day"). And from 1952 to 1955, the city of La Plata was briefly renamed Eva Perón.

In 1951, Perón was re-elected for a second term. However, things started to get rough. Economic growth stagnated, his anti-intellectual stance made him a lot of enemies among the Argentine upper-class intelligentsia (including writer Jorge Luis Borges, who had been "promoted" from library attendant to "poultry inspector" for opposing Perón), his progressive reforms (including a divorce law) infuriated conservatives and the Catholic Church, and perhaps most importantly, his wife Evita died of cancer.

On June 1955, members of an ultra-Catholic faction of the Air Force wrote ''Cristo Vence'' ("Christ is Victorious") on their airplanes and decided to rebel against the Peronist regime by [[Bombing of Plaza de Mayo|bombing Plaza de Mayo]], an important square in Buenos Aires adjacent to the Casa Rosada presidential palace, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. The attempted coup failed, anti-Catholic riots and [[church burning]]s by Perón supporters followed, but the dictator was finished. He was overthrown three months later by the so-called ''[[Revolución Libertadora]]'' ("Liberating Revolution"), a military coup better known by Peronists as the ''Revolución Fusiladora'' ("Shooting Revolution") for obvious reasons.

===[[Exile]] ===

The ''Libertadora'' went to extreme lengths to destroy Perón and his legacy. Not only did they attempt to kill the exiled Perón with a car bomb (twice), they also executed hundreds of suspected Peronist sympathizers, renamed or banned all Peronist organizations, [[book burning|burned books]] and portraits of Perón and Evita, and made it illegal to even mention Perón's name.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Biography==
-===First two terms===
-In 1946, Perón ran for the presidency on an anti-imperialist, anti-oligarchic, pro-social justice, [[Cold War]] neutrality, and populist platform, supported by the CGT. He portrayed himself as a nationalist hero, and characterized his opponent, José Tamborini, as a puppet of US Ambassador Spruille Braden (his campaign slogan was, in fact, "Braden or Perón"). Perón won by a landslide.
-After [[World War II]], with Europe in ruins, Perón's ambition was to transform Argentina into a superpower. He nationalized/expropriated several foreign companies (mostly British-owned) in order to achieve complete autarky, launched a five-year plan focused on economic growth and infrastructure, and started developing a nuclear program on Huemul Island.
-He remained sympathetic to fascism, and granted asylum to many [[Nazi]] [[War crimes|war criminal]]s and collaborators as part of his own version of Operation Paperclip, most notably [[Adolf Eichmann]], [[Josef Mengele]], Croatian dictator [[Ante Pavelić]] (leader of the [[Ustaše]]) and Otto Skorzeny, the former [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] bodyguard and ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' officer who rescued [[Benito Mussolini]] from house arrest in 1943; Skorzeny was Perón's close advisor and Evita's bodyguard (and, presumably, even her lover). However, Perón himself wasn't anti-semitic.
-Perón's regime was certainly repressive and intolerant of opposition, but not in a murderous way. He favored [[censorship|media suppression]], and intimidation, persecution, imprisonment and [[torture]] of prominent critics both left and right over straight-up forced disappearances. But that slowly began to change following the 1947 [[Rincón Bomba massacre]], a brutal eviction of members of the indigenous Pilagá people, which technically constitutes [[genocide]].
-Despite not being exactly a feminist icon, Perón granted women the right to vote and promoted Evita's social labor. His wife revealed herself as a very skilled politician in her own right and was considered by many to be the regime's second-in-command. She was loved by the poor, the sick and the elderly, and hated by the elite (the Peróns and their supporters derisively referred to them as "gorillas").
-Both Perón and Evita developed a [[cult of personality]]. One children's public school book contained lines such as, "In the new Argentina, everyone is happy. Everyone feels happy. This is because of Perón's government. That's why every Argentine loves the Leader with all their soul".
-In 1947, Perón established Ciudad Evita, a city near Buenos Aires whose street layout was intentionally designed in the shape of Evita's profile. August 31, the day Evita gave a shocking radio speech announcing that she would not run as her husband's Vice-President in 1951 (because of her health problems), was made an unofficial national holiday ("Renunciamiento Day"). And from 1952 to 1955, the city of La Plata was briefly renamed Eva Perón.
-In 1951, Perón was re-elected for a second term. However, things started to get rough. Economic growth stagnated, his anti-intellectual stance made him a lot of enemies among the Argentine upper-class intelligentsia (including writer Jorge Luis Borges, who had been "promoted" from library attendant to "poultry inspector" for opposing Perón), his progressive reforms (including a divorce law) infuriated conservatives and the Catholic Church, and perhaps most importantly, his wife Evita died of cancer.
-On June 1955, members of an ultra-Catholic faction of the Air Force wrote ''Cristo Vence'' ("Christ is Victorious") on their airplanes and decided to rebel against the Peronist regime by [[Bombing of Plaza de Mayo|bombing Plaza de Mayo]], an important square in Buenos Aires adjacent to the Casa Rosada presidential palace, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. The attempted coup failed, anti-Catholic riots and [[church burning]]s by Perón supporters followed, but the dictator was finished. He was overthrown three months later by the so-called ''[[Revolución Libertadora]]'' ("Liberating Revolution"), a military coup better known by Peronists as the ''Revolución Fusiladora'' ("Shooting Revolution") for obvious reasons.
 ===[[Exile]] ===
 The ''Libertadora'' went to extreme lengths to destroy Perón and his legacy. Not only did they attempt to kill the exiled Perón with a car bomb (twice), they also executed hundreds of suspected Peronist sympathizers, renamed or banned all Peronist organizations, [[book burning|burned books]] and portraits of Perón and Evita, and made it illegal to even mention Perón's name.