EVA PERON: HISTORY AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

Eva Peron: History and Leadership Style



Eva Peron: History and Leadership Style

Introduction

Of all the figures of twentieth-century history, few have inspired as many passionate debates as the life and myth of Eva Perón. From her origins as an illegitimate girl in the Argentine provinces, she pursued a career as a film and radio actress in Buenos Aires before meeting, and subsequently marrying, the man who would make her the First Lady of Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón. Although she held no official government role during Perón's terms in office, Eva Perón became one of the most powerful political figures in the country and an influential ambassador for Argentina throughout the world. After her tragic, early death from cancer at the age of thirty-three, the woman whom millions called "Evita" had already made a lasting impact on her homeland. Few could have foreseen that a half-century later, her life would continue to inspire, provoke, and challenge those who live in the shadow of her memory.

Eva Peron: History and Leadership Style

France (1998) mentions although Eva Peron later claimed a birth date of 1922 under the name Eva Duarte, María Eva Ibarguren was actually born on May 7, 1919 near the provincial town of Los Toldos, Argentina, about one-hundred fifty miles west of the nation's capital, Buenos Aires. She was the last of five children born to Juana Ibarguren and Juan Duarte. Duarte, who worked as an agricultural estate manager near Los Toldos, kept his wife and three other children in a nearby town and never formalized his relationship with Ibarguren, who insisted on using the surname Duarte for herself and her children. In 1920 Juan Duarte returned to live with his wife. Juana Ibarguren Duarte, now in desperate financial straits, moved into a modest home in Los Toldos where she supported her family as a seamstress. When Juan Duarte died in a car accident in 1926, his "second family" was barred from the cemetery. It was a humiliation that young Eva Duarte would remember for the rest of her life (France, 1998).

Juana Ibarguren Duarte moved her family to Junín, where one of her older daughters had secured a job in the post office, in 1930. Juana Duarte ran a small boardinghouse in Junín; despite the improved economic circumstances, however, young Eva Duarte felt stifled by life in the small town (France, 1998). From her weekly visits to the cinema, she dreamed of becoming an actress like her idol, Norma Shearer, who had also escaped a poverty-stricken childhood. After completing her secondary studies in Junín, fifteen-year-old Eva Duarte traveled to Buenos Aires to look for work on one of the popular radio serials that dominated the airwaves. Although her enemies later claimed that the young woman had seduced a famous tango singer to make her way to the capital, it is more likely that her mother accompanied her on her initial foray into Buenos Aires. Either way, Eva Duarte was soon living on her own in the capital and within ...