Perón elected in Argentina. Juan Domingo Perón, Argentina’s controversial former vice president, is elected president. He had been imprisoned the year before, but the appeals of workers and his charismatic wife, Eva Duarte de Perón, had won him his freedom. As president, Perón pursued a clearly populist policy, and his vision of an autonomous Argentina earned him widespread support. Meanwhile, however, his authoritarianism grew, with the arrest of political opponents and restrictions on press freedom. In 1952, “Evita,” his main political asset, died, and his personal support evaporated. Three years later, he was ousted in a military coup. In 1973, after 18 years of exile, he returned to Argentina and was re-elected president. His second wife, Isabel de Martinez Perón, was elected vice president and succeeded him upon his death in 1974.
