Eva Perón

When writing a new biography about a well-studied individual, one must always explain why a new study of the subject is necessary. This is a question that Loris Zanatta tackles immediately in the introduction to her new political biography of Eva Perón. She lays out two reasons justifying her new work: first, that there are still many stories to be told about Perón beyond what is already well known; and second, that Perón is useful as a starting point for exploring her particular era in all its facets, a fact that Zanatta identifies as the reason why so many have focused on Evita’s story. However, Zanatta’s main rationale for writing the biography, and the most important and innovative argument that she makes within it, is to question Evita’s legacy. Traditionally, scholars have argued that Evita’s untimely death in 1952 deprived the regime of one of its fundamental supports, thus weakening it in a way that facilitated Juan Perón’s overthrow in 1955. Zanatta explicitly contradicts this interpretation, arguing that “in no way is it a matter of the regime losing strength because it could no longer count on her presence; rather, Perón fell because he had ended up being a prisoner to the political legacy that she had left” (p. 9). Evita herself brought about the fall of the regime by seizing control of the very meaning of Peronism. Her death thus brought on a battle within the movement to become the most faithful interpreter of Peronism, using Evita herself as the benchmark for that interpretation. This internal struggle made a rapprochement with Evita’s rivals for power, such as the military and the Catholic Church, impossible, thus provoking the regime’s final crisis in 1955. In making this argument, Zanatta also clearly takes a stand on the old question of whether it was Juan, Evita, or the two together who truly ruled the nation. Evita clearly held a stranglehold on power that lingered on well after her death.In outlining the theme of her work, Zanatta disclaims any intent to explore the more personal side of Evita’s life, preferring to focus exclusively on her political career and activities. Nevertheless, the opening chapters of the book highlight how, for Evita, the personal was political. Evita’s political education and career, as Zanatta sees it, began with her rise through the ranks of the entertainment industry, wherein she learned the value of personal loyalty. This approach to politics followed her into the Casa Rosada, where she continued to promote the careers of those who were loyal to her with almost no consideration of any other qualifications. This idea of loyalty also formed the basis for her political philosophy, which came to define Peronism, of zero tolerance for anyone who failed to conform to her ultranationalist, prolabor ideology. Even Juan Perón, who favored a more pragmatic approach, found himself hemmed in by this rhetoric because he could not afford to lose the popular support that Evita commanded, even after her death. Evita thus won control of Peronism because it was she who defined just what Peronism was and would be.After this initial analysis and a review of some of Evita’s most important work, particularly that of her foundation, Zanatta focuses the bulk of her study on Evita’s rivals within the government and the nation — in particular, within the military, the church, and the foreign affairs ministry. It is here that Zanatta’s source material becomes particularly noticeable, as she relies heavily on the reports produced by various embassies. These sources, while certainly valuable and intriguing in their own right, tend to color the impression one gets of Evita, who was often depicted in these materials as a master manipulator and a nefarious influence on government policy. This attitude, Zanatta indicates, was almost universally shared among the institutions listed above, and the accounts of the rivalry between these institutions and Evita so pervade the book that it becomes difficult at times to understand how Evita could be as powerful and as popular as she was. Relatively little space, for example, is given to the nature of Evita’s relationship with the Confederación General del Trabajo, the national labor organization, or to the content produced by the media outlets Evita controlled, despite Zanatta’s assertion that these institutions were fundamental to her political rise and monopoly. Even less space is given to the Peronist Women’s Party, which helped to cement Evita’s influence over the movement. Zanatta’s analysis, while provocative and of undoubted interest to any student of Peronism, is not always wholly supported by the evidence presented

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