Maria Eva Duarte was born in 1919, the youngest of five children. Her parents were Juana lbarguren and Juan Duarte. She was 7 when her father died. It was one of the saddest times of her life. Eva's family was very poor, and lived in a tiny one room house. Eva's mother, her sisters, Elisa, Blanca, and Anninda and Eva had to work as cooks for a rich family. Eva real never understood the rich due to her family being servants.
Eva was the quiet and daydreaming type when she was a teenager. And in 1933, after she had a little part in a play called "Student's Arise", she knew she wanted to be an actress. One night, Eva had heard that a handsome singer was coming to town, so with the help of one of her father's old friends, she went into his dressing room while he was onstage. Later that night they drove to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires was the place to become an actress in Argentina. Eva didn't&t have a lot of luck though, and for a, long time she didn't have a job or any money. Finally, she got a small part in a play called "La Senora de Perez". Then, Eva started dating Sintonia Magazine's owner. He was very handsome, and she got a lot more jobs, after she started dating him, and never worried about food for a long time. She also began to be on the radio, when the owner of Radio Argentina let her work there. Two other radio stations that she was on were Radio El Mitndo and Radio Belgrano.
one.e night, Eva had persuaded Colonel Anibal Imbert to host a big party. At that party, she met Colonel Juan Domingo Peron, her future husband' Juan was a great colonel! On June 4, 1943 the government of President Rainon S. Castillo was destroyed by the GOU (United Officers Group). They were fired of the conservative government. On that same day, Argentina got a new president, President Pedro P. Ramirez who had been Secretary of War in President Castilla's government. Peron was the secretary of the GOU, but nobody knew about him yet. He did become though, Under Secretary at the War Ministry. Peron was starting to become noticed. He really helped out Ramirez, but sometimes Ramirez felt like he was a puppet of Peron. Then, Peron became head of a brand new department, Secretary of Labor and Welfare. Juan Peron was so into his work, it made some people mad. Then on February 24,1944, the president ordered Peron to resign, Peron said that he wouldn't. That night, Peron and some other colonels ordered the president to resign, which he did. The next president was President Farrell who used to be vice-president. He was even more of a puppet for Peron. Juan then became vice-president. Through all of this, Peron was failing in love with Eva. The government though, was not crazy about her because Eva was smart, she had gotten the idea for Peron to help the workers, so now, he was turning to her for more advice. Another reason was that Eva had put her mother's boyfriend in the position of Director of Posts and Telegraph and then put herself in the office next to him. That was the last straw.
On October 9, the president asked Peron to resign. Peron did. When he came home, there was Eva. She had been fired from Radio Belgrano. Peron seemed very upset, so first Eva got a lot of men that Peron had helped, to come to their apartment, Eva told them Peron needed help now. Then, she told her husband to go get his personal papers. He didn't know there was going to be a crowd and a lot of news reporters outside. He had to speak, and he did. Then, Peron and-Eva went to a resort. The police came to send Peron to jail. Eva was very mad! Weird, though, he was never arrested. They got him out. And he spoke to the crowd. Everyone was yelling 'Peron for President'.
On December 9th Juan and Eva got married. It was a very small marriage. Then, Peron started his campaign for president. The poor loved him! He had already helped them with higher wages, and he told them, he would help them even more. Election day was February 24th but they didn't start counting until March 6. On March 28, Peron had won!
Eva was a different first lady. She told everyone to call her Evita, since nicknames in Argentina showed very close friends. She was also into woman's rights. Evita organized the woman's branch to the Peronista party. Evita did another thing that was great. She made the Eva Peron Foundation where people could come and get help with housing, clothing, and money. She made a lot of orphanages for children. She was always trying to help the poor. She cared for them. The names of most of her followers were the descamisados or shirtless ones. They always cheered for her and loved her.
One time, Evita went on a trip around Europe, she had a great time in Spain, but France, Great Britain and Italy weren't as good, because a lot of people didn't like her politics. I think she was very happy when she came back to Argentina.
In 1951 Evita wanted to be vice-president. Her descamisados agreed she would do well, but the military wouldn't have it! They didn't want a woman to be vice president. It would have been too embarrassing. So Evita did not get to become vice president.
On July 26,1952, Evita died of cancer. It was a very sad time for Argentina.
Evita Peron was a woman who helped the poor in Argentina to a better life.
How they met
Eva met Juan Peron at an earthquake relief fund raiser in 1944. They fell in love and Eva began living with him very shortly after they had met. Juan was handsome and dashing and Eva was young and glamorous, they made the perfect couple. Eva lived for almost two years as Peron's mistress and was by his side as he rose to power. Peron's ambition was as great as Eva's and together they made a perfect political team. Peron became very popular with the people of Argentina. He became the Secretary of Labor and Welfare, pledging himself to be a man of the people, he established a minimum wage and better conditions for the working man. Peron made powerful alliances with union leaders and became very much a man to be feared in the government. Peron would jail union leaders who did not join with him and used his position of power to bully those around him. In spite of his lack of tolerance for opposition, Peron became incredibly popular with the people and stood in a position to take over the government. Eva was a key part in Peron's rise to power, she encouraged and sometimes bullied him towards success, but her role as his mistress still kept her very much behind the scenes. Finally, Ramirez grew tired of Peron's power and defiance and had him arrested on October 11th, 1945. Eva's response was immediate, she quickly phoned all of Juan's friends in the trade unions and organized a rally in the capital for the release of Juan Peron. Peron was released on October 17th and his position as the most powerful man in Argentina was secured.
Marriage
Eva and Juan were married in a civil ceremony on October 18, 1945. At first the marriage was kept quite, because Eva was of low birth, his former mistress, and an actress, she was viewed as unworthy of entry into the social circles in which Juan moved. It was a risky marriage, a great many of Juan's army friends disliked the control that Eva had over him and his political life. In fact, the two were not married by the church until several months later, on December 9th. Eva was delighted with her new husband, she had spent her life desiring to be wealthy and glamorous and with the marriage certificate, she felt that she had finally gained the respect that she deserved. Eva was by no means using Juan to achieve power, though. Eva loved and even worshiped her husband. In her autobiography, she describes the marvelous day on which she first met her husband. In reading Eva's own words, one can truly see how much she adored Juan. She truly believed that he was next to a living god and their marriage was a source of great pride and happiness to her. Juan adored Eva as well, the proof of this being in the enormous risks he took in marrying her. Eva was viewed as a second class citizen by the higher society in Argentina, but Juan never forgot all that she had done for him and kept her firmly by his side. The Peron's marriage was and ideal one, perfectly matched in love and ambition, they became the successful team that could rule Argentina.
20 Jun 2006