Download Peron and Vargas

UNIT 12 VARGAS OF BRAZIL AND PERÓN OF ARGENTINA
12:1 Latin America 1900-1950:
Increased industrialization and urbanization diminished
power of agricultural elites. Armed forces would support
group they thought would secure order and progress.
● To gain power urbanized upper and middle
classes advocated populist programs.
● Populists used protected industries to pay
for their programs.
● Great Depression encouraged Latin
American leaders to try to develop industrial
self-sufficiency.
● All Latin American countries, except
Argentina, received US aid during World War
II and their economies benefited.
●
12:1 Latin America 1900-1950 continued:
Latin American countries started
Import Substitution Industrialization
(ISI) programs—a country placed
protective tariffs on imports on products
that it wanted to produce locally.
Protected industries are also assisted
by the government.
●
● ISI programs meant that countries had to import expensive
technology and led to balance of payment deficits.
● ISI programs led to urbanization, increased industrialization,
high prices, foreign debt, and inflation.
12:2 Brazil during the First Republic (1889-1930):
After independence the 26 states of Brazil were given more
power than the central government. São Paulo dominated
country. Wide gap between rich and poor states.
● Brazilian economy was dependent on coffee production.
Government supported coffee prices.
●
12:2 Brazil during the First Republic (1889-1930)
continued:
During World War I Brazil declared war on Germany. Major
effort was providing supplies to the Allies.
● Political bosses known as coronéis (colonels) ran the
states. Presidency was alternated between São Paulo and
Minas Gerais.
● The Great Depression greatly hurt the Brazilian economy.
Coffee prices fell and the government could no longer afford
to subsidize coffee prices.
●
● In 1930 the military put Getúlio Vargas into
power.
12:3 Brazil under Vargas:
● Vargas represented a heterogeneous coalition that made it
difficult for him to satisfy all groups.
● Vargas’s first task was to reduce the power of São Paulo.
● The Constitution of 1934 gave the Brazilian government the
right to nationalize industry. Using the new Constitution Vargas
increased workers’ rights and in return labor unions went under
strict government control.
● In 1935 a leftist uprising was crushed.
● In November 1937 Vargas assumed dictatorial powers based
on European fascist models (Franco of Spain and Mussolini of
Italy). The new regime was called the Estado Nôvo (New State).
● Under the Estado Nôvo Brazil started an ISI program and
industrial production doubled.
12:3 Brazil during World War II:
Prior to Pearl Harbor Brazil and the US signed a secret
agreement giving the US the right to build and use Brazilian
airfields and naval facilities.
● In August 1942 Brazil declared war on Germany.
● The Brazilian navy was put under direct control of the US
navy.
● Brazil sent a division of troops and a
fighter squadron to fight with the Allies in
Italy.
● The war accelerated industrial growth.
●
Vargas and
FDR
12:3 Brazil during World War II continued:
● Vargas was disposed by the military in 1945.
● General Eurico Dutra replaced Vargas and started an antiinflation austerity program.
● Vargas was re-elected President in 1950, and could not solve
Brazil’s problems.
● With the economy a mess the military ordered Vargas to
resign or be overthrown and in August 1954 he committed
suicide.
12:3 The Impact of the Estado Nôvo on Brazil:
Society was heavily controlled and regulated.
● Women’s rights were not improved.
● Vargas promised the middle class upward mobility based on
merit, better education, and health care. He did not deliver on his
promises.
● Although Vargas did little for the average Brazilian he was
popular because in his rhetoric he treated them with respect.
● Brazil still remained a hierarchical society with a fragmented
infrastructure and with little social security or equality.
●
12:4 Juan Perón’s rise to power:
From 1932 until 1943 the Concordancia ran
Argentina—a coalition of parties that ruled
through repression.
● President Ramón Castillo refused to support
the US war effort in World War II and remained
neutral for the following reasons:
✓Argentines competed in world markets with US
grain and beef and this had led to bad relations
between the two countries.
✓ Many Argentine military officers were proGerman because of German training, and the
belief that the US and Britain conspired to keep
Argentina poor.
✓ When it appeared that Germany might win the
war Argentina wanted to be able to trade with a
German occupied Europe.
●
12:4 Juan Perón’s rise to power continued:
Of all the Latin American countries only Argentina
received no US aid during World War II.
● Fearful that Castillo’s successor might end Argentina’s
neutrality and angry at the continued repression and
corruption of the government, the military overthrew
Castillo in June 1943.
● After the military coup Colonel Juan Perón became Argentina’s
Vice President, head of its Labor Department, and Minister of War.
● Perón recognized that instead of attacking organized labor the
military government should co-opt it into its nationalist industrial
program. In late 1943 Perón began a program of government
support for labor demands and in return union leaders agreed to
government management of labor unions.
● Even though conservatives and the US opposed Perón, his
popularity among the people was so great that he won the
presidential election of 1946.
●
12:4 Perón the
Populist:
Perón used the military to stay in power and increased his
popular support by having the government give workers
benefits and by increasing social security and services.
● Perón’s wife Evita was extremely popular and she helped
cement his support among workers, the poor and women.
Died in 1952 at the age of 32.
●
12:4 Perón the Populist continued:
The government controlled the nation’s banking system.
● Perón wanted to build-up Argentina’s industrial base because
agricultural exports had a difficult time bringing in foreign
exchange after World War II.
● Perón created the Argentine Institute for the Promotion of
Trade (IAPI in Spanish). Set prices of agricultural export
products and used the profit created by the difference from what
the farmers received to the export price to fund industrialization
and purchase foreign assets.
●
Perón and Franco
12:4 Perón’s fall from Power:
● After 1949 Argentina underwent a severe recession.
● Farmers were frustrated that they were receiving less than the
export price for their products. Many farmers shifted to non-export
crops and the IAPI stopped bringing in profits. Inflation reached 30
percent per year.
● Perón attempted to resolve the economic decline by soliciting
foreign investment and this angered nationalists.
● As the economy continued to decline Perón’s government
became more repressive using violence to intimidate his
opponents. When the Catholic Church refused to canonize Evita,
Perón attacked it and this attack turned-off many of his followers.
Perón and
Evita
12:4 Perón’s fall from Power continued:
● Perón refused to decrease wages and benefits and this angered
industrialists.
● Inflation hurt workers.
● Giving foreign companies greater access to Argentina’s
economy turned many military officers against Perón since they
were heavily involved in Argentina’s industry.
● In September 1955 the military overthrew Perón and he went
into exile in Spain.
● Perón’s programs solved none of Argentina’s
major economic problems—the transportation
system was poor, there was a lack of electrical
power generation, fuel imports hurt the balance
of payments situation, heavy industry was
limited, and the inefficient hacienda still
dominated the countryside.