Peron’s Rise to Power:
The reasons for Perón’s rise to power can be found in the discontent of the Argentinians with the Concordancia governments (1932-43). These governments were characterized by political fraud and economic growth. However, economic growth, achieved by significant dependency on the British, continued the traditional export-import economic model and served to a large extent the interests of the estanciero elite and foreign business. Politically, the Concordancia did not satisfy the urban middle classes or the now numerous and active trade unions. The early 1940s saw a rise of cultural and economic nationalism. The cultural nationalism of the intellectuals denounced the intervention of Britain in Argentine affairs, and found an echo among the ordinary citizens of Argentina, particularly in Buenos Aires. The outbreak of the Second World War gave further impulse to nationalism and extended to economic affairs. Nationalists argued for a policy of state led industrialization to produce the goods that could no longer be exported and to lessen the economy’s reliance on exports. The critical impulse, however, came with the conversion of the armed forces to economic nationalism as a result of a dispute with the USA over a pan-American alliance against the Axis powers. In 1943 the armed forces overthrew the government. Among the junior officers in the new regime was Perón, who as minister of labour and later as vice-president of the military government built up a power base from which he launched a nationalistic project for Argentina.