Juan Domingo Perón: democrat or dictator?
wage, pension schemes and house-building schemes. Peronism also involved a lot of nationalization and industrialization because Perón was a strong believer in Argentina relying on itself rather than foreign imports. A famous example of Perón’s radical nationalization was in 1947 when he completely nationalized the railway system, which was at the time owned by a British company. Perón very much didn’t like the idea of British involvement in Argentina and there is further evidence of this dislike when he shut down the opposition newspaper La Prensa, a newspaper which supported British involvement in Argentina. Juan Domingo Perón received huge support in his first term and he won a huge victory against a Radical Civic-Union party, a centrist social-liberal party, winning by an 11% margin in the 1946 Presidential election that took place in February. This was despite a huge alliance of anti-Perón factions, including the Radical-Civic Union party, the Communist Party, the conservative National Autonomist Party and various business and financial sectors uniting to prevent Perón from entering the Casa Rosada (‘the Pink House’, the President ’s palace). During the build-up to the election Perón and his party organized many democratic rallies through the streets of Buenos Aires. The fact that Perón won such a large majority in these elections is a first and key piece of evidence proving that Perón ranArgentina between 1946-74 under a democratic mandate rather than under dictatorial means. However, when one looks at the way in which he ruled, one can see a completely different side to the argument that shows that he actually ran Argentina using dictatorial means. For instance, dissident opinion was not allowed, and the press was suppressed. Many of Perón’s opponents criticized him for resorting to a form of dictatorial rule. Although Perón maintained the characteristics of democratic rule, he often took away people’s powers by nationalizing the broadcasting system and monopolizing the newspaper industry. The most notable case of this was the shutting down of the newspaper ‘La Prensa’. La Prensa was an Argentine daily newspaper founded in 1869. It had earned a reputation for being fairly conservative and supported British interests in Argentina. This of course was a big problem for the explicitly nationalist Perón, a President who hated the idea of British (or other foreign) control of certain parts of the Argentinian economy. However, by 1951 the Perón government finally seized control of La Prensa and turned it a propaganda organ for the Peronist government. However, after the overthrow of Perón in 1955, it became independent again. For Perón, the suppression of the press was vital as it was the first stepping-stone to removing opposition opinion and preventing any negative portrayal of himself. Not only was Perón criticized for his use of force to close down opposition newspapers and the press in general, but he also showed contempt for political opponents and referred to them as ‘traitors’ and ‘agents of foreign powers’, trying to portray his opponents as being unpatriotic for not wanting the best for their country. For example, Perón illegally imprisoned politicians and journalists including the leader of the Radical-Civic Union party, Ricardo Balbín. This was the centrist social-liberal party in Argentina who were at the time the second biggest party in Argentina. The fact that Perón illegally imprisoned his opponents and labelled them as a traitors is further evidence to suggest that Perón was in fact acting as a dictator.
In conclusion, it is hard to say clearly whether Perón was a dictator or democrat. There is strong evidence to support both characterizations. For example, Perón’s win in the 1946 Presidential elections
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