How did Juan Peron gain power in Argentina?

Answer 1

He earned the support of the working class. Juan Peron was a military officer who became a politician. He served as a government minister and then was appointed VP by the junta that ruled in the 1940s. Just after his apointment, he met Evita Duarte, an actress of humble origins who would become his mistress, and later on, his wife. Peron himself was a lackluster politician who supported fascism and admired Hitler and Mussolini. Although he proved to be an adequate leader who instituted reforms to help the poor and working class, it was Evita, a minor radio actress, who was the real force behind his popularity. She campaiged and helped him win the presidency, then lobbied on his behalf and gained the support of the labor unions, and by extension, of working class people in Argentina. She made very public gestures to help the poor and working class, and encouraged her husband to develop policies and programs to benefit them. She also supported and fought for the right to vote for Argentinian women (she was also pragmatic--she knew with their support, she and her husband could remain in power). In the early 1950s, Evita announced that she was running for VP of the country alongside her husband as President--she received immense support from the country's poor and working class, but the upper classes and the military were not keen on the idea and she was forced to withdraw her candidacy. She also was ill and just a year after announcing her candidacy, she succumbed to cancer. She was very young (early 30s) and the poor and working class in Argentina, for the most part, were devastated by the loss. A few years after Evita's death, Peron was exiled and his social programs dismantled; he fled to Venezuela, then Panama, then Spain, and watched in dismay as the military and the upper classes attempted to besmirch his and Eva's reputation. It failed. Peron returned to Argentina during the 1970s and served a third term as President, but the stresses of fighting against the military establishment and the oligarchy (the real powers behind Argentina's government) caused him ill health and he died of a heart attack in 1974.