Peron and Vargas Argentina\'s and Brazil\'s Most Influential Political Regimes

Peron and Vargas: Argentina's And Brazil's Most Influential Political Regimes

This essay compares the regimes of Juan Domingo Peron of Argentina and Getulio Vargas of Brazil in terms of policies and issues.

Most of South America's former colonies gained independence in the early 1800s. Brazil and Argentina are no exceptions, to this, with the difference being that in the case of Brazil the revolution which led to independence was not as bloody as that of many of its neighbors. With the passage of time, these two nations came to dominate the politics of South America, "in part due to strong personality-driven leadership by individuals" (Ferre, 2003). Juan Domingo Peron of Argentina and Getulio Vargas of Brazil are classic examples of such leadership.

Both men took power when their countries were suffering from recession, unemployment and economic hardship. Although one of them, Peron, was a general and the other a civilian, this has little to so with the methods in which they galvanized public opinion in their favor and indeed in the way they ran the country. At the same time, however, due to the very different nature of the two nations and the time at which they took control of them, the two leaders also have differences among them.

Brazil was ruled for many years by a relatively small group of people from certain classes of society. In 1930, violence and chaos broke out when an opposition candidate stood for president, and after the ensuing revolution, Getulio Vargas, a former Finance Minister and opposition candidate for the presidency, became president of the country.

In Argentina, Juan Domingo Peron was, unlike Vargas, a part of a ruling Junta that overthrew the existing government in 1943. He held several cabinet positions in the ensuing government, before being arrested in 1945 as his fellow generals mistrusted him. This was followed by a popular uprising in his favor, like Vargas, and Peron assumed power in 1946.

Vargas was very skilful in playing off the different political elements of the country to keep his grip on power strong. He would encourage and suppress by turns the communists as well as the right wingers. On the other hand, Peron's grip on even his own party, and the trade unions who brought him to power was always uneasy. (Perre, 2003)

Vargas' regime did not attempt much to enforce a cult of personality surrounding his image, and was uncharacteristically averse to both the trappings of power and crowd pleasing tactics commonly employed by rulers of his type. On the other hand, Peron's personality was counterbalanced equally, if not more, with the popularity of his wife Eva among the masses of Argentina. Just as Vargas' image was everywhere in Brazil, it was Peron's wife who had the same kind of exposure in Argentina. This splitting of importance in propaganda is one important difference in the way the two leaders managed their image in their own country.

With the onset of the Second World War, Vargas' initial stance was weighted in favor of the Axis powers, with both rhetoric and policy. Later, this stance was changed to one that was strongly in favor of the allies. Peron, on the other hand, came to power just after the end of the Second World War, and was seen to represent a faction sympathetic to the Nazis. Peron welcomed many German refugees into the country, perhaps with the hope that they would help his government in becoming a nuclear power.

Vargas was skilled at deflected criticism aimed at his regime to individuals in the government, keeping his own image pristine. For example, the torture and intimidation of members of the opposition was blamed not on instructions or policy emanating from his office, but on the chief of police. Peron's success was due to the fact that the masses were willing to overlook any such infractions made by his regime due to the fact that they were at least giving the masses a voice, as was perceived by the downtrodden ones.

Vargas' regime was largely uncontested during the twenty four years of his rule. This is largely due to the fact that his power within Brazil was absolute, and no one could contemplate opposing him. Furthermore, Vargas always held out the possibility of making a deal with the opposition to include them in his administration, which was a powerful sop designed to keep people faithful to him. On the other hand, Peron's regime lasted less than ten years, and was followed by a coup that saw him toppled and sent into exile.

Although initially elected as a representative of privileged landlords, Vargas styled himself as a champion of the poor in the 1950s, borrowing heavily from the Soviet political model and setting a string of nationalization and public ownership of corporations into place. His political ideology of "Getulismo" was also designed to appeal to the masses and to ignite in them the hope of economic well-being for all. Similarly, Peron also moved similarly from the right to the left in his time in power. With his wife, Peron instituted a series of programs designed to improve the lot of the common man. Peron's ideology was labeled Peronismo, and garnered a lot of favor among the masses, with Eva Peron being almost deified by the population of Argentina. One reason for this was the fact that Peron had come to power thanks to an "uneasy alliance" (Foss, 2000) between his administration and the Generals.

On the other hand, the relationship of the two leaders with the Catholic Church was quite different. While Vargas was not on close relations with the Church, he did make efforts to ensure a cordial relationship with it. On the other hand Peron suffered an "excommunication by the Vatican" (Ferre, 2003), an unprecedented snub.

Faced with widespread corruption and the prospect of being overthrown himself in a new coup, Vargas committed suicide in 1954. Peron was, on the other hand, overthrown in a coup, and spent the best part of two decades in exile. He was to return to Argentina, and once again became president of the country in 1975.

The most distinctive characteristic of Vargas' personality, which was in many ways responsible for his overwhelming popularity, was his shrewdness and his accompanying lightheartedness, typified by the way he used or discarded friends and enemies as the opportunity arose, with no apparent accompanying guilt. Vargas was known for the smile that played perpetually on his lips, which did a lot for his popularity among the masses. On the other hand, Peron's wife Eva in many ways overwhelmed Juan person himself. Eva Peron was promoted as a maternal figure for the nation and was instrumental in galvanizing popular support for Peron through the many social initiatives started in her name.