�Argentina

IB Objectives

• Populist leaders in Latin America: rise to power; characteristics of populist regimes; social, economic and political policies; the treatment of opposition; successes and failures

�IB Paper 3 Sample Questions

• Compare and contrast the rise to power of two populist leaders in Latin America between 1945 and 1979.
• Examine the methods used and the conditions which helped the rise to power of one single party state leader in one country of Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century.

IB Paper 3 Sample Questions

• How did either Getulio Vargas of Brazil or Juan Perón of Argentina gain and retain the support of the urban workers?
• For what reasons, and what with results, did Populist movements emerge in Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century? Support your answer with specific examples from one country of the region.

IB Paper 3 Sample Questions

• For what reasons, and by what means, did either Perón or Vargas obtain power?
• Assess the nature and effectiveness of opposition to either Juan Domingo Perón (1946–55) or Getulio Vargas (1930–45).
• Analyse the aims and achievements of one populist leader in Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century.
• In what ways, and with what results, did either Perón or Vargas pursue populist policies?

Lecture Outline

1. Argentina during the Great Depression
2. Argentina and WWII
3. Juan Peron

Key Terms

• Concordancia
• Juan Peron

​

�Argentina Background

• Between 1860 & 1930 Argentina’s avg. growth was 6.3%, making it the strongest economy in S. America.
• Main sources of income = beef and wheat but the economy was diversifying.
• Most of Argentina’s exports went to the UK and most of its coal and petroleum came from British companies. British investors built and owned the railways & the public bus systems in Buenos Aires.

Argentina & the Great Depression

• 43% fall in the value of its cash crops that was accompanied by a 40% devaluation of the Argentine peso.
• Most blamed the current government led by Hipolito Yrigoyen and he was overthrown and replaced by a military junta led by Jose Felix Uriburu.

Argentina & the Great Depression

• Uriburu was forced to hold elections in 1932 and he was defeated by General Agustin Justo.
• This new govn’t was referred to as the Concordancia and it maintained its power through electoral fraud and corruption.

​

The Concordancia and the Great Depression

• From 1932 until 1943 Argentina was ruled by a coalition of parties called the Concordancia.
• Tried ISI and public works
• Public works centered on infrastructure and resulted in the construction of 32,000 miles of highways. Prior to 1932 there were only 5,000 miles of roads. Helped move Argentina away from its dependence of British owned railways.

Argentina and WWII

• Stayed neutral because of its association with Germany and because they believed that U.S. and Britain had worked together to keep Argentina a rural economic colony.
• Was the only country in the Americas that did not contribute to the Allied war effort.

​

Argentina and WWII

• It appeared that President Castillo would manipulate the 1943 election so that Robustiano Patron Costas would win.
• Nationalists believed that Costas would end Argentina’s neutrality and have the country enter the war against the Axis Powers.

​

Argentina and WWII

• A military coup overthrew the Castillo regime on June 6, 1943.
• General Pedro Ramirez became president.
• 1943 US placed new financial and trade restrictions on Argentina and pressured other Latin American countries to do the same.

​

Argentina and WWII

• US increased its military aid to Brazil, and Argentina was afraid Brazil would attack.
• Ramirez agreed to break diplomatic relations with the Axis by the end of January 1944.

Argentina and WWII

• Nationalists in the government forced Ramirez to resign and Vice President General Edelmiro Farrell became president.
• Military junta believed they needed a submissive labor class in order to continue ISI.
• Govn’t took over unions, suppressed newspapers, and jailed opposition leaders.
• Led to protests and strikes which threatened ISI.

Discussion

• How did Argentina’s experience during the Great Depression and WW II set them up for a single-party state?

Juan Peron

• Born the son of a farmer in 1895
• Advocated the army taking a major role in the government in order to reshape the economy and society.
• Served as Argentina’s military attaché to fascist Italy.
• 1943 becomes Minister of Labor

Juan Peron

• With the overthrow of Ramirez, Peron became Argentina’s Vice President and Minister of War.
• Created Women’s Division of Labor & Assistance
• Supported RR workers’ strike
• Created a state system of pensions & health benefits
• Was imprisoned in Oct. 1945 but released after 5 days.
• Farrell scheduled a national election for February 1946.
• Peron established the Partido Laborista (Labor Party) and began to campaign for the presidency.
• Peron won by 300,000 votes out of the 2.7 million cast (54%).

Peron the Populist

• Increased military spending but ended conscription
• Nationalized RR, telephone, gas, & some electrical companies.
• Estab. Min. wages, controlled the length of the work day, & estab. Working condition regulations.

​

Peron the Populist

• In 1947 Peron disbanded the Labor Party and replaced it with the Sole Party of the National Revolution.
• Women received the vote in 1947 and Peron had Congress pass legislation that increased women’s access to education and improved their wages and working conditions.

Peron the Populist

• From 1941 to 1950, the number of women admitted to universities more than doubled.
• In the presidential election of 1951, 90% of registered women, eligible to vote for the first time, voted and 65% cast their votes for Peron.
• 7 women senators and 24 women deputies were elected to Congress, the largest female delegation of government representatives in the Americas.
• Peron changed the name of his party to the Partido Peronista ( Peronist Party)

Peron and the Economy

• Prior to the 1946 election the junta had taken control of the Central Bank and established price and production boards.
• Peron’s economic program was initially successful and in July 1947 Argentina paid off its entire foreign debt.
• By 1948 industrial workers wages had increased by 20% without decreasing profits.

​

​

Peron and the Economy

• To raise money to fund the creation of new industries, the government created the Instituto Argentino de Promocion del Intercambio (Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Trade) or IAPI.
• In 1949 foreign competition resulted in a trade deficit and inflation began to spiral upward to 31% which was 2x the 1948 rate.
• Real wages dropped 20%

​

Discussion

• To what extent was Peron a populist leader?

Peron’s Fall from Power

• Except for a short recovery during the Korean War, after 1949 Argentina entered a period of severe recession which included several drought-induced bad harvests.
• The 1948 Marshall Plan gave loans and credits to Western European countries that could be used only in the US and Canada.
• Exports dropped so low that in 1952 Argentina actually had to import wheat.

​

Peron’s Fall from Power

• The amount of money in circulation increased from 6 to 45 billion pesos during Peron’s two terms.
• Starting in 1951, the regime grew more repressive.
• Govn’t took over La Prensa.
• Conflict with the Catholic Church
• In 1953 Peron gave Standard Oil the rights for exploration, drilling, refining, and distribution in Argentina and this was the last straw for the nationalist military.

Peron’s Fall from Power

• September 1955 military overthrows Peron.
• Peron goes into exile in Spain.

Introductory Paragraph

• I know we keep on doing this, but this is a very common topic on the IB exam. You’ll thank me later. Maybe.
• Compare and contrast Peron and Vargas
• Rise to power
• Reforms
• Opposition
• Fall from power

​