Blog 5

Latin American nations were greatly affected by World War II. Mexico for example as a result of the 1910 revolution’s legacy, national identity was the main concern of politics. This political climate of Mexico would become even more complex as a result of World War II. What was a desire to please the country’s own national identity would become a balancing act of legacy and foreign relationships as well. Initially the country of Mexico struggled with balancing economic reform and foreign pressure from the United States and Europe. The economic aspect was benefited by their involvement in world war II allowing more opportunities for modernization and industrialization, using both tactics of the political right and left, the Camacho administration was able to unify political division to a degree while boosting the economy. In hopes of better balancing foreign relationships with the legacy of the Mexican revolution, government leaders promoted a pro-democracy and anti-totalitarianism version of their revolutionary past. This tactic was successful allowed the country to keep its revolutionary identity while also courting relationships with foreign countries like the United States and Europe. World War II also influenced the way Latin American countries besides Mexico handled propaganda and foreign relationships. While political divisions still existed, the government, the common solution against this by the Mexican people came to be considered democracy. Many Mexicans took pride in what they viewed as pro-democracy aspects of their revolution and the government began to define the democratic goals of the allies as an extension of Mexico’s ideals. These ideas put together through propaganda came with a clear message. One that stated that production is equal to patriotism, and that contributing to industry, Mexicans were keeping alive the legacy of the 1910 revolution, as these ideas of unity were further inserted into political discourse, industrialization overtime would come to mean Mexican industries protected by Mexican government policies. The influence of World War II on Latin America was not just limited to Mexico, but also with other Latin American countries along with whether or not they aligned with the Allies or Axis powers. Argentina for example, was going through its own unique brand of populism during World War II which would become referred to as Peronism. Named after Juan Domingo Peron and his wife Evita, this was unique to other forms of populism in its sense of dual leadership. Peron and Evita were described to have an incredibly charismatic relationship with their followers. To the point in which it played a major role in Argentine politics throughout the 1940s. But how did this come to be, and what did Peron and Evita do to have such a charismatic relationship with their followers. A good place to look in order to analyze this is Evita’s leadership during Peron’s first term. While the traits of a charismatic leader are often associated with that of male politicians. Other things that make Evita a unique example of a charismatic leader was that it was not during a time of crisis but rather as a result of Peron allowing her to cooperate with him on labor after he was elected president. Because of this while she may be an important look into the phenomenon of Peronism, she can’t be isolated from him while being studied. Married to Peron in 1945, she was originally a soap opera actress. Unaware to political observers she would become one of the most influential people in the Peron administration and Latin America’s most famous female politician. World War II already led to favorable economic conditions for the country which benefitted Peron along with a growing working class with non unionized workers and a bureaucratic labor system to his advantage. Despite this Peron’s policies were initially met with resistance by political parties who already opposed his neutralist pro-Axis stance. Despite this his support among laborers continued to grow. While typically after gaining a large amount of support, charismatic leadership tends to deteriorate under the process of routinization, Instead the government remained intact and perhaps became even stronger. This was in part due to his wife Evita. In order to maintain his social basis of power and relationship with his followers, he appointed Evita to be his substitute and personal contact. By giving her his personal contact he legitimized Evita. She later played a major role in the mobilization of workers. Her established contact eventually allowed her to replace old leaders of the labor party with devoted Peronists allowed her to consolidate her husband’s power. This process managed to go on until her death in 1952, while Peron managed to get multiple terms despite exile, it still was not to the same effect as his Peronism period with evita. Regardless of the political spectrum a Latin American country laid on, it is clear that the perceptions of their daily lives, from how they view their past to the people who got in power would not have been the same without World War II.