The 1943 Argentine coup d'état, also known as the Revolution of '43, was a coup d'état on 4 June 1943 that ended the government of Ramón Castillo, who had been fraudulently elected to the office of vice-president before succeeding to the presidency in 1942 as part of the period known as the Infamous Decade. The military was opposed to Governor Robustiano Patrón Costas, Castillo's hand-picked successor, a major landowner in Salta Province and a primary stockholder in the sugar industry. The only serious resistance to the military coup came from the Argentine Navy, which confronted the advancing army columns at the Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics.
It was the military government that "incubated" Peronism. The coup of June 5, 1944 is considered by some historians as the true date of the birth of the movement created by Juan Perón. Perón chose June 5 to take office to honor the 1944 coup, which established the only dictatorship that began and ended on the same date.
Antecedents
Two primary factors influenced the coup of 4 June 1943: The Infamous Decade that preceded it and World War II.
The Infamous Decade (1930–1943)
What is known as the Infamous Decade began on 6 September 1930 with a military coup led by the corporatist, Catholic-nationalist General Jose Felix Uriburu. The coup overthrew President Hipólito Yrigoyen, a member of the Radical Civic Union party, who had been democratically elected in 1928 to serve his second term. On 10 September 1930, Uriburu was recognized as de facto president of the nation by the Supreme Court. This court order laid the foundation for the doctrine of de facto governments and would be used to legitimize all other military coups. The de facto government of Uriburu outlawed the Radical Civic Union.
The local elections of Buenos Aires on 5 April 1931 had an unexpected result for the government. The radical candidate, Honorio Pueyrredón, won the election despite the national party's confidence of their own victory and despite the radical party's lack of leadership. Although the radical party still lacked a few votes in the electoral college and the national party could still negotiate with the socialists to prevent the radicals from winning the governorship, the government began to panic. Uriburu reorganized the cabinet and appointed ministers from the "liberal" sector. He cancelled the local government elections for the provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe. On 8 May 1931 he cancelled the appeal to the provincial electoral college, and on 12 May, he named Manuel Ramón Alvarado as de facto governor of Buenos Aires.
A few weeks later, a revolt led by Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Pomar broke out in the province of Corrientes. Although the revolt was rapidly brought under control, it gave Uriburu the excuse he was looking for. He closed all the premises of the Radical Civic Union, arrested dozens of its leaders, and prohibited the electoral colleges from electing politicians that were directly or indirectly related to Yrigoyen. Because Pueyrredón had been one of Yrigoyen's ministers, this meant that he could not be elected. Uriburu also exiled Pueyrredón from the country along with Alvear, a prominent leader of the radical party. In September Uriburu called for November elections and shortly after, he annulled the elections in Buenos Aires.
After the failure of the corporatist effort, Argentina was governed by the Concordancia, a political alliance formed between the conservative National Democratic Party, the Antipersonalists, the Radical Civic Union, and the Independent Socialist Party. The Concordancia governed Argentina during the remainder of the Infamous Decade, throughout the presidencies of Agustín Pedro Justo (1932–1938), Roberto María Ortiz (1938–1940), and Ramón Castillo (1940–1943). This period was characterized by the beginning of a new economic model known as import substitution industrialization.
In 1943, elections for a new president had to be held, and an attempt to fraudulently award the presidency to the sugar entrepreneur Robustiano Patrón Costas, a powerful figure in Salta Province during the previous four decades, was evaded. Patrón Costas's assumption of the presidency would have secured the continuation and deepening of the fraudulent regime.
The Second World War
The Second World War (1939–1945) had a decisive and complex influence on Argentinian political events, particularly on the coup of 4 June 1943.