ABSTRACT
The Republic of Argentina has a tradition of authoritarian leadership and volatile politics going back to the legendary strongman Juan Rosas. The deteriorating condition of the working class was made even worse by the fact that only a small proportion of Argentine labor was organized into unions. Nationalism, hatred of the oligarchy, resentment of the United States and Britain, and the military's sense of its own political vocation—all were deep–seated sentiments in Argentina of the 1940s, good materials for any would-be dictator to build with. In practice, Justicialismo meant an emphasis on nationalism, increasing state control of key industries, and a bigger slice of the economic pie for organized labor. The politics in Argentina became a struggle between the loyal supporters of the ousted dictator and the elements defeated in the elections of 1946 and 1951, with the army often tilting the balance to the latter and occasionally taking power for itself.
