Read Book Why Peron Came to Power

¶ … Peron Came to Power

Publisher: Alfred - A - Knopf

Copyright Date: 1968

The editor of this publication, Joseph R. Barager, following his own 38-page introduction, gives way to 21 individual "authors" - all of whom contribute short essays on pivotal periods and events leading up to and into the Peron era. Each of the 21 essayists has his or her own particular area of expertise, and hence, a unique point-of-view. As to the over-riding point-of-view of the editor? Barager clearly wishes to establish at the outset of his book, that the book is going to argue that Juan Domingo Peron was not responsible for "all the ills and misfortunes" that afflicted Argentina following WWII - notwithstanding the contention of some Latin American journalistic observers, and the raging of many hostile and angry Argentineans. Nor, the editor's thesis goes on to assert, was Peron the "champion" of the lower class (descamisados - "shirtless ones"), as about a third of the Argentinean electorate asserts. The editor's thesis, then, is to spell out through the 21 individual narratives, the key political and social events in the history of Argentina leading up to and including Peron's ascension - events which, according to Barager, paved the way, and set the stage, for a man like Peron to not only come to power, but to rule with a dictator's hand, be imprisoned, and rise from his cell to rule again.

Barager's book about the Peronist Revolution resulted from his own personal interest, which led him to receive a "Doherty Foundation Fellowship," allowing him to study the Peron phenomenon; and, he also was awarded a "Penfield Traveling Scholarship" (from the University of Pennsylvania), which paid his way to live, study, research and write in Argentina from 1949 to 1950. Barager's style is straight-forward, and matter-of-fact; he does not launch into a great deal of opinion, but rather, he tries to objectively cover the voluminous material in a non-opinionated style. The scope of the material covered in the book begins in the early 1800s in Argentina, into and partly through the 1960s.

Among the narratives in this book is the writing of Domingo F. Sarmiento ("Life in the Argentine Republic: Civilization or Barbarism"), a former school teacher and a former president of Argentina. He wrote his essay - gleaned from his 52-volume "Obras completes" - while in exile from Argentina in Cuba in 1845. His analysis (pp. 43-53), is weighted down with his personal antipathy toward Spain, but is injected with antidotal digressions which a serious historical scholar would devour. Another writer, Robert J. Alexander (pp. 180-198), an economics professor at Rutgers University, helps the reader understand that when Peron came to power, in the revolution of 1943 (initially as "Director of the Department of Labor"), instead of alienating labor unions and workers, as other dictators' administrations had done, Peron embraced, then engulfed, the unions. "By persuasion and force," Alexander writes (186), "he brought the labor movement almost completely under his control...[and] he tied those organizations to his own destiny." By forging this alliance with labor - and standing up for them against their companies - Peron had a ready-made lobbying group which helped keep him in power.

On pages 203-205, "Evita" - Eva Peron - writes about the eight days in 1945 that her husband, Peron, was in prison, prior to him re-ascending to the throne of dictator. She writes that in going door-to-door, "looking for friends who could still do something for him," she visited both the upper class and the poor. She felt "cold and calculating hearts" in rich neighborhoods, whereas the poor people opened their doors "more generously and with more cordiality." The editor uses the short essay from Peron's wife - also the subject of a major Hollywood motion picture, and of international intrigue - to balance the otherwise scholarly and even prosaic narrative that describes several of the essays.

Critique of the Book

One key part of the important work of an editor who is not the sole author, is in assembling interesting and accurate material for a book, to build on his thesis. Another job the editor has, particularly when there are a series of essays, is in the correct editorial placement of the various pieces that make up the whole. In that sense, Barager has made editorial decisions that lend themselves to a more entertaining reading of the material. Barager has led the reader along in not just a chronological, beginning-to-end sequence, but in a way in which one writer balances or off-sets the tone and substance of the previous writer. One example of this placement is the back-to-back juxtaposition of the essays by Eva Peron and Maria Flores. Ms. Peron was emotional and subjective to the point of melodrama. Meantime, Ms. Flores was a journalist who followed the career paths of both Peron and his wife; her narrative is refreshingly honest and objective, as it shows the ruthless, brutal corridor to power for the Peron couple.