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Foreign and Domestic Policy in Argentina during the Second World War: The Traditional Political Parties and the Military Regime, 1943–1945

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Argentina between the Great Powers, 1939–46

Part of the book series: St Antony’s/Macmillan Series ((STANTS))

Abstract

It is no coincidence that the analysis of Argentina’s controversial position in the international arena during the Second World War should have aroused such a degree of interest among academics; added to the inherent interest of the issue itself is the fact that in many respects this was also a critical period for the country.

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Notes and References

  1. The problems of Argentine foreign policy in the 1930s and 1940s are dealt with in Jorge Fodor and Arturo O’Connell, ‘La Argentina y la economía atlántica en la primera mitad del siglo XX’, Desarrollo Económico, 49 (April–June 1973); Carlos Escudé, Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos y la declinación argentina, 1942–1949 (Buenos Aires: 1983); and Mario Rapoport, Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos y las clases dirigentes argentinas, 1940–1945 (Buenos Aires: 1981). Ample documentation from the Argentine Foreign Office on Argentine policy during the Second World War can be found in Mario Rapoport, ¿Aliados o Neutrales?, la Argentina y la Segunda Guerra Mundial (Buenos Aires: forthcoming). Of those who have studied the domestic political scene we can mention Alberto Ciria, Partidos y poder en la Argentina moderna, 1930–1946 (Buenos Aires: 1975) and Félix Luna, El 45 (Buenos Aires: 1971).

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  2. See Mario Rapoport, Gran Bretaña, Chapter 3.

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  3. Ibid.

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  4. The ‘intransigents’ were in control only in the Province of Córdoba. The leadership of the Radical Party was in the hands of Alvear and his lieutenants José P. Tamborini and Enrique Mosca. See The Argentine Radical Party and the Perón Government, 21 April 1945, United States National Archives (USNA) Department of State (DS), Office of Strategic Services (OSS), R & A Report 3007; and Félix Luna, Alvear (Buenos Aires: 1982) pp. 306–308.

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  5. The contacts between Perón and Damonte Taborda are described in various British Foreign Office documents, see Mario Rapoport, Gran Bretaña, pp. 198–199.

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  6. USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3007, op. cit.; Félix Luna, Alvear, op. cit., pp. 317–320; and Félix Luna, (El 45), op. cit., pp. 80–85.

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  7. USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3007, op. cit.

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  8. La Prensa, 7 January 1945, published Pueyrredón’s statement and La Prensa, 10 January 1945 his denial, along with a denial that he might run for office.

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  9. La Prensa, 2 March 1945 and USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3007, op. cit.

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  10. Among the main leaders were Quijano, after 1946 Perón’s Vice President, Juan I. Cooke, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1945, and Antille, who had also been a minister in the military government, all of them secondary figures in the Radical Party.

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  11. Military Intelligence Division, 11 June 1944, USNA, DS, OSS, Report 78634 and Gerónimo Arnedo Alvarez, ‘Informe ante el Comité Ejecutivo del PC’ en La opinión de los comunistas argentinos acerca de la situación política actual, Buenos Aires, 18 July 1944.

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  12. An analysis of current domestic opposition to the Argentine Regime, USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 2800. Borlenghi was Perón’s Interior Minister during his first two presidential periods.

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  13. A background study of some leading pro-democratic Argentines, USNA, DS, OSS, R & A Report 2810. In this document there is an analysis of the telegrams and the political personalities that signed them.

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  14. The Economist, 5 May 1945, and Nicolás Repetto, Mi paso por la política de Uriburu a Perón (Buenos Aires: 1957) pp. 290–291.

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  15. Vittorio Codovilla, Hay que derrocar a la camarilla nazi del GOU, Buenos Aires, December 1944, pp. 3 and ff., 11–12.

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  16. The Economist, 5 May 1945.

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  17. Colonel Perón and the Argentine Industrial Union, 16 March 1945, USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 2842; Alberto Ciria, op. cit., pp. 284–286.

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  18. Idem.

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  19. Cordell Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (New York: 1948) pp. 1404–1405.

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  20. Cf. Mario Rapoport, Gran Bretaña, pp. 267–270. On the OIAA cf. I.F. Gellman, Good Neighbor Diplomacy (Baltimore: 1979). Some Argentines worked in the OIAA, of whom María Rosa Oliver, a writer with close connections with the CPA, deserves mention; she describes her activities in Washington in her book Mi fe en el hombre (Buenos Aires: 1978). The choice of M.R. Oliver for a position in the OIAA is a sign of the times, since her left-wing ideas were well known.

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  21. Letter from Alejandro E. Shaw to William L. Clayton, New York, 17 January 1945, USNA, DS, 611.3531/1-1745.

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  22. Memorandum of Conversation, Mr. Robert Woods Bliss, Mr. Grew, 12 January 1945, USNA, DS, 711.35/1-1245.CS/SMS.

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  23. There are different versions regarding the possible emissary or emissaries who had interviews with Perón. The American Embassy in Rio de Janeiro apparently played a part, cf. Adolf A. Berle, Navigating the Rapids, 1918–1971 (New York: 1973) p. 720. Cf. also on this topic, C.A. MacDonald, The Politics of Intervention: the United States and Argentina, 1941–1946’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 12, 2 (1980); and the books by C. Escudé and M. Rapoport mentioned previously.

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  24. Stettinius Diary, Records of Harley A. Notter, 1939–1945, week of 8–14 April 1945, USNA, DS, RG. 59, Box No 29.

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  25. On the Warren Mission, see Reed to Secretary of State, 18 April 1945, 19 April 1945 and 19 April 1945, USNA, DS, 711.35/4-1845, 711.35/4-1945 BMB, and 711.35/4-194 KFC; and Kelly to Eden, 27 April 1945, FO, AS 2612/12/2. Cf. also Perón’s version in Juan Perón, Tres Revoluciones Militares, speech of 21 December 1945 (Buenos Aires: 1963).

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  26. Argentine Attitudes Toward United States-Argentine Relations, February–June 1945, 7 July 1945, USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3167; and letter from the Railway Union to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Religion, 28-3-1945, Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina (AMREC), Guerra con Japón y Alemania, Exp. 5, 1945.

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  27. The manifesto of the Unión Cívica Nacionalista was of 22 March 1945 and appears in AMREC (document quoted in note 28). La Fronda was of 12 May 1945 and appears in USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3167, op. cit. This document indicates that the change in attitude of La Fronda was due to the fact that it considered that, now that Germany had been defeated, the chief enemy was the Soviet Union and to combat her the pro-Nazi nationalists were seeking to make approaches to the Anglo-Saxon powers.

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  28. Junta de Exiliados Argentinos en el Uruguay, Statement on the occasion of the Mexico Conference, Montevideo, 25 February 1945.

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  29. Américo Ghioldi, Palabras a la Nación (Buenos Aires: 1945) pp. 283–287; La Vanguardia, 8 May 1945.

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  30. Pueblo Argentino, Montevideo, 26 April 1945 (Pueblo Argentino and Justicia were papers published by Patria Libre).

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  31. El Plata, Montevideo, 20 April 1945. See also El País, Montevideo, 26 April 1945.

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  32. La Prensa, 26 April 1945; El País, 26 April 1945; Kelly to Eden, 4 April 1945, Foreign Office (FO), AS 2837/92/2; Reed to Secretary of State, 22 April 1945, USNA, DS 835.00/4-2245.

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  33. Ibid.

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  34. Reed to Secretary of State, 24 April 1945, USNA, DS, 835.00/4-2445.

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  35. El Día, Montevideo, 27 April 1945.

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  36. La Mañana, Montevideo, 23 April 1945, and Nicolás Repetto, op. cit., pp. 290–292.

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  37. Félix Luna, El 45, op. cit., pp. 66–68, and Silvia Beatriz Belenky, Frondizi y su Tiempo (Buenos Aires: 1984) pp. 23–26. The Avellaneda Statement was signed on 4 April 1945.

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  38. Cf. Mario Rapoport, ‘Argentina and the Soviet Union: history of Political and Commercial Relations, 1917–1955’, Hispanic American Historical Review, 66:2 (May 1986).

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  39. FRUS, United Nations Conference, 1945, vol. I, Washington, 1967, pp. 386 & ff., 410 & ff., 483 & ff. and 500–501. Cf. also Stettinius Diary, op. cit.

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  40. Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Rockefellers, An American Dynasty (New York: 1976) p. 238.

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  41. Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History (New York: 1973) pp. 206–207. Also quoted in the book by Collier and Horowitz.

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  42. Hadow to Perowne, San Francisco, 7 June 1945, FO, AS 3119/1066/2. From the end of 1944 various FO documents indicated a rapprochement between Roosevelt and American business, which was probably connected with the appointment of Stettinius as Secretary of State; cf. Halifax to FO, Washington, 27 November 1944, AN 4459/20/1945.

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  43. Peter and David Horowitz, op. cit., p. 234; James F. Byrnes, Speaking Frankly (New York: 1947) pp. 52–59; Raymond Aron, La República Imperial (Madrid: 1976) pp. 54–55.

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  44. On Henry Wallace and his ideas, see Richard J. Walton, Henry Wallace, Harry Truman and the Cold War (New York: 1976) pp. 14–15, 40–41, 64–65, etc. Cf. also Alonzo L. Hamby, Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism (New York: 1973).

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  45. USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3167, op. cit.

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  46. Rodolfo Moreno, De Frente a la Dictadura (Buenos Aires: 1945) pp. 148 and 128.

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  47. Council for Pan American Democracy, Letter to President Truman, 3 July 1945, USNA, DS, 711.35/7-345 CS/LF. On 25 June 1945, Patria Libre thanked the above-mentioned Council in different letters in the same tone, to Braden and Stettinius.

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  48. Peter Collier and David Horowitz, op. cit., p. 241.

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  49. There is an ample bibliography on Braden’s activities in Argentina. Simply by way of evidence we refer to the versions of Braden, in Spruille Braden, Diplomats and Demagogues, the Memoirs of Spruille Braden (New York: 1971) and Juan Perón, El Libro Azul y Blanco de Juan Perón (Buenos Aires: 1973). Also references to Braden and Perón in Ambassador Kelly’s memoirs, David Kelly, The Ruling Few (London: 1953).

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  50. Justicia, 1 June 1945.

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  51. Pueblo Argentino, 11 June 1945.

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  52. USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3167, op. cit.

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  53. Durán’s connection with the Communists was reported in the above-mentioned Libro Azul y Blanco; by an ex-Communist like Puiggrós (Rodolfo Puiggrós, El Peronismo, 1. Sus Causas); and in March 1947 in the American Congress. The British also make some references to these relations, cf. Memorandum from Hadow, Washington, 25 November 1945, FO, AS 5647/12/2. Durán was a colonel in the Spanish Republican Army and as such was probably a member of the Spanish Communist Party. It was also said that he had family connections with Braden.

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  54. USNA, DS, OSS, R & A, Report 3167, op. cit.

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  55. La Prensa, 24 July 1945. This statement was signed by personalities from all the opposition parties, from the Conservatives to the Communists and by business leaders and well-known members of the traditional elites. On 29 August a large reception in honour of Braden was held at the Plaza Hotel, cf. La Nación, 29 August 1945.

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  56. On the episode involving Hoare-Belisha, who is strongly criticised for British policy in Argentina, cf. Hoover to Lyon, 16 January 1946, USNA, DS, 711.35/1-1646 CS LE; and Kelly to Perowne, 7 December 1945, FO, AS 6657/92/2.

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  57. Memorandum from Avra M. Warren, 31 January 1945, USNA, DS, 711.35/1-2545 FW.

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  58. Throughout the British documents there is a tendency to treat relations with Argentina from a markedly economic point of view, cf. Mario Rapoport, Gran Bretaña, op. cit., p. 282 & ff.

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  59. Vittorio Codovilla, En Marcha Hacia un Mundo Mejor (Buenos Aires: 1948). A reproduction of an interview in the Chilean magazine Ercilla. The Junta de Exiliados Argentinos en Montevideo expressed the same ideas in the previously mentioned statement of 25 February 1945.

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  60. Cf. Maurice Isserman, Which side were you on? The American Communist Party during the Second World War (CT: 1982).

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  61. John Morton Blum (ed.) The Price of Vision. The Diary of Henry A. Wallace 1942–1946 (Boston: 1973) pp. 610–611.

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  62. In a telegram in mid-1945 Braden reported the possibility of an agreement between Perón and the Soviets, but then indicated that it was necessary to warn Stalin about the matter. It is obvious that Braden believed in respecting the respective ‘spheres of influence’, and in the working of the ‘great alliance’. Cf. e.g. Braden to Secretary of State, 8 July 1945, USNA, DS, 711.35/7-845.

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  63. Mónica Hirst, O Process o de Alinhamento nas Relacoes Brasil-Estados Unidos 1942–1945 (Master’s Dissertation, IUPERJ, Rio de Janeiro: 1982) pp. 159.

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  64. Mario Rapoport, Argentina and the Soviet Union, op. cit.

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  65. M. Isserman, op. cit., pp. 217–221.

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  66. George F. Kennan, Memoirs, 1925–1950 (Boston: 1967) and for a documented view of the beginnings of the cold war, Walter La Feber (ed.) The Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947 (New York: 1971).

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  67. J. Morton Blum, The Price of Vision, op. cit., p. 444.

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  68. See in this respect the above mentioned memoirs of Spruille Braden, op. cit., pp. 310–315.

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  69. Félix Luna, El 45, op. cit., p. 105. La Junta de la Victoria was a women’s organisation that worked energetically in support of the allies; cf. Messersmith to Braden, 21 June 1946, USNA, DS, 835.00B/6-2146 CS/JEC. On the experience of the Communists in government in France, cf. Philippe Robrieux, Histoire intérieure du Parti communiste (Paris: 1981) vol. 2, Chapters II and III.

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  70. Spruille Braden, op. cit., pp. 174 & ff., where he expresses his opinion of Saavedra Lamas.

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Notes and References

  1. Merwyn K. Bohan, Economic Counselor, United States Embassy, Buenos Aires, 1942–1944, in an oral interview, 1974. H.S. Truman Library, Independence, MO. Cited by Ronald C. Newton in his chapter in this volume (see p. 111).

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  2. Robert A. Potash, The Army and Politics in Argentina, 1928–1945 (Stanford: 1969) 254–255.

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  3. Félix Luna, El 45 (Buenos Aires: 1973).

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  4. FO371/37708/AS4317. Chancery, Buenos Aires, to South American Department, Foreign Office, 29 July 1944. See also 37709/AS4442, FO Minute, R.H.S. Allen, 21 August 1944; 37716/AS6302, FO Minute, J. Henderson, 17 December 1944.

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  5. FO 371/51838/AS1157, Kelly to Bevin, ‘Annual Report, 1945’, Buenos Aires, 27 February 1946.

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Authors
  1. Mario Rapoport
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  2. Paul B. Goodwin Jr.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guido di Tella (Associate Fellow) (Associate Fellow)

  2. St Antony’s College, Oxford, UK

    Guido di Tella (Associate Fellow) (Associate Fellow)

  3. University of London, UK

    D. Cameron Watt (Stevenson Professor of International History) (Stevenson Professor of International History)

Copyright information

© 1989 Guido di Tella and D. Cameron Watt

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Rapoport, M., Goodwin, P.B. (1989). Foreign and Domestic Policy in Argentina during the Second World War: The Traditional Political Parties and the Military Regime, 1943–1945. In: di Tella, G., Watt, D.C. (eds) Argentina between the Great Powers, 1939–46. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10977-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10977-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-10979-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-10977-7

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