Juan Peron and Eva Peron, "Evita"

Eva was born Maria Eva Duarte in 1919 in Los Toldos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her father, Juan Duarte, already married, did not marry her mother Juana. She had four siblings, Blanca, Elisa, Juan and Erminda and they lived very poor. Their mother took them to their father's funeral in 1920, but they were not allowed to enter. Eva made up her mind as a child that she would one day become a famous actress.

She had a brief career as a minor radio and screen actress and then became the mistress of Juan Peron in 1944. In October 1945 she became the second wife of Peron, who was elected the President of Argentina the following year.

Eva Peron

Juan Domingo Peron was born Oct 8, 1895 in Lobos, Bueno Aires Province. He was educated in a military college and took part in the uprising against President Hipolito Irigoyen. In 1930 he was appointed Secretary of the minister of war. He taught school at the Escuela Superior de Guerra and was a military attache in Chili for a year. He studied alpine military methods in Italy and published five books on military history. He was an admirer of Benito Mussoini, and after returning to Argentina in 1941 he helped stage a coup d'e tat in June 1943. He was made minister of war and Vice President but when he faced opposition in the armed forces he was forced to resign and was put in prison. His labor supporters obtained his release and as a widower he married Maria Eva Duarte who became known as Evita. He was elected President in 1946 and Evita helped in his labor movement.

Evita founded the Eva Peron Welfare Foundation, the Peronista Feminist Party, and gave women the right to vote. In 1951 she was so popular among the people that she was named the vice-presidential candidate by the Peronista party, but she refused the nomination because of strong military opposition.

Evita fell ill and died on July 26, 1952 of uterine cancer at the age of thirty three. Juan hired Dr. Pedro Ara, a Spanish pathologist to embalm her body. Peron planned to build a mausoleum, where her body could be left on display forever. She was on public display for three days and the people crowded the streets to see her.

Her death weakened Juan Peron's power, along with economic difficulties, labor unrest, and his excommunication by the Roman Catholic church. In 1955 the military revolted against him before Eva's mausoleum could be built, and he was forced to flee to Spain. The new government had the body shipped to Italy, and buried in a small cemetery in Milan under a false name.

Peron went into exile for 18 years but was still an influence on Argentine politics. He returned in 1973 and was elected President with his third wife, Isabel, as Vice President. It was only after Peron was back in Argentina that Evita's body was returned, almost perfectly intact. Peron kept her body. Peron died on July 1, 1974, and after his death his new wife had Eva buried in the Duarte family tomb in a cemetery in Buenos Aires.