1918-1943 1946-1955






Argentina 1943-1946



During most of World War II, Argentina stuck to a policy of NEUTRALITY. In 1943, fearing that PATRON COSTAS, a conservative within the Castillo government, would lead Argentina into the war, nationalists within the army staged a coup d'etat. The Castillo government had been widely perceived as corrupt, the coup took place unopposed.
A new government was formed under General PEDRO RAMIREZ., who resigned later in 1943 and was succeeded by General EDELMIRO FARRELL. Argentina faced increased international pressure, for her continued position of neutrality, for men sympathizing with Fascist Italy in her government (JUAN PERON, minister of labour and welfare, who had visited Italy and Spain in 1938-1940). In 1944 the US administration descrobed Argentina's government to be fascist and imposed economic restrictions on the country.
Minister of labour and welfare Juan Peron had communist and socialist labour leaders arrested, but at the same time approved deals with the trade unions which resulted in significant wage increases, limited work hours etc.
In late March 1945, Argentina had declared war on the Axis Powers and joined the Allies. World War II being over, Britain and the US continued to exert pressure on Argentina's government as fascist; they were suspicious of Peron. In October 1945, President Farrell ordered his arrest; yet massive demonstrations in Peron's favour brought him back onto the political scene. President Farrell called for elections to be held in February 1946. While JUAN PERON organized the Partido Laborista (Labour Party), the traditional political parties formed the Democratic Union. They enjoyed the support of Argentina's employers who resisted Peron's policy.
US ambassador S. Braden, by distributing a booklet in which the Military Junta was described as fascist, tried to undermine Peron's campaign; the policy backfired; Peron was elected president.
The Argentinian nationalists in particular were suspicious of the United Kingdom, the USA and of neighbour Brazil, the latter regarded Argentina's rival. Argentina accepted German, Austrian and Italian refugees, among them a number of Nazis, ADOLF EICHMANN and JOSEF MENGELE and Croatian fascist dictator ANTE PAVELIC the most notorious. Argentina saw the German etc. refugees in general as technocrats who, with their knowledge, would help develop the country's industry.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from infoplease : Argentina
El Gobierno Militar (1943-1946) (The Military Government), from lafacu.com, in Spanish
Argentina in World War II, by Thomas Pace
Biography of Edelmiro Farrell, from Todo Argentina : Biografias, in Spanish
Historia del Pais, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, in Spanish, illustrated (on Argentina)
L'Argentina de Juan Domingo Peron (1943-1955), from La Pagina de la Historia, in Catalan
DOCUMENTS Edelmiro Farrell, Mensaje del Presidente de la Nacion 6. 4. 1945, in Spanish
Images from Chronik 2000 Bilddatenbank : Gen. Juan Domingo Peron
Statement Condemning the Suspension of Jewish Newspapers by the Argentine Government. October 15, 1943, from Public Papers of the Presidents : Franklin D. Roosevelt
REFERENCE David Rock, Argentina 1516-1987, Univ. of California Press, 1989, KMLA Lib.Sign. 982 R682a
Daniel K. Lewis, The History of Argentina, Greenwood 2001, 240 pp., KMLA Lib. Sign. 982 L673h
Article : Argentina, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 pp.75-77, 1945 pp.64-67, 1946 pp.68-71 [G]
Article : Argentina, in : Americana Annual 1944 pp.56-61, 1945 pp.57-62, 1946 pp.61-66, 1947 pp.38-40 [G]
Article : Argentina, in : New International Year Book, Events of 1944 pp.40-47, 1945 pp.43-49 [G]
Article : Argentina, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1944 pp.37-39, 1946 pp.40-44 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on February 8th 2003, last revised on August 25th 2007

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