Letter signed by Juan Perón (1961)

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In 1961, Argentine President Juan Perón, exiled and very irritated by an English journalist, criticizes and counter-argues.

• Letter typed and signed in red by Juan Perón to Don Lawrence A. Flockhart, in London.
• One page, with the original envelope, its stamps and heading "Juan Perón".
• In Spanish.
• 21 cm x 29.5 cm.
• Madrid, October 18, 1961.
• Good general condition, fragile paper.
• Unique piece.

My dear friend :

On this date I received your letter of October 4th last and I thank you for your kind greeting, which I return with my greatest affection.

I read the article “The Treasure that Perón Can't Touch”, published by Randolph Churchill in the “News Of The World”, which you sent me. Without a doubt, he is an indecent slanderer, one of the many who seek notoriety at the expense of other people's honor. I don't usually worry about these fools, because when they use slander, insults or accusations, it is because they honor a value or something that they fear or envy.

However, as this “wizard's apprentice” refers to the current situation in Argentina, I am pleased to send you two documents in which I comment on these issues, fully adjusting to reality through data and statistics that, without a doubt, this tourist does not know. The regrettable thing is that “News Of The World” has lent itself to this defamatory publication, which also shows me that it is a newspaper of little value and importance.

As for the personal insults that this scoundrel freely directs at me, it may be that one day he will be able to swallow them with his own tongue. My vast experience tells me, on the other hand, that everything this slanderer has said is to get along with my political enemies, who will undoubtedly have given him some business, this is generally how these services are paid for.

I don't know by what force of fate the children of important people usually turn out to be idiots, especially when it comes to alcoholic inheritance, and I imagine this Randolph guy hasn't escaped this law of inheritance. For this reason, I am inclined to think that he is a despicable character, who is not worth engaging in irrelevant and ineffective refutations. However, I send you this letter and the reports, to which I referred previously, if I believe it is pertinent to say something.

I am very grateful for your attention, I am pleased to be at your service for whatever it may be and to reiterate my affectionate greeting and gratitude.

A big hug.

Juan Perón

• Large typed document in 10 parts, written by Juan Perón for his "compañeros" in Argentina.
• It is a complete and incisive summary of the current political, social and economic situation in Argentina, as well as the decline of the “so-called ruling class”, followed by “Where do we go from here?”.
• 64 pages, with heading "Juan Perón".
• In Spanish.
• ~ 21 cm x 29 cm.
• Madrid, October 1961.
• Good general condition, fragile paper
  
• Unique piece.

Juan Perón (1895 - 1974) was president of Argentina between 1946 and 1955 and between 1973 and 1974. The military coup in September 1955 forced him into exile until 1973 in Paraguay, Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic and for some time in Madrid, where he wrote this letter and this document.

With a great cult of personality and close to the ideas of Hitler and Mussolini during the Second World War, Perón is considered a dictator by historians. However, the main difference from fascism, the Peronist regime maintained a multi-party system and respect for the Constitution as the separation between the executive, legislative and judicial powers. Despite his authoritarian and very repressive stance, Juan Perón was permanently acclaimed between 1945 and 1955, through several elections that confirmed the popularity of his policy called the "Third Way", which aimed to be an alternative between capitalism and communism .

Another reason for popularity, Juan Perón's second wife, Eva or Evita to others, contributed greatly to the social image of Peronism in the poorest classes of the population, for her work with the sick, the elderly and orphans. Although her precise role in the politics of Perón's first term remains controversial, Eva Perón certainly introduced issues of social justice and equality into the national discourse.

In 1961, after Evita's death, Juan Perón married cabaret singer María Estela Martínez, who became his third wife and successor in office. Argentina in the 1950s and 1960s was marked by frequent changes of governments (eight heads of state 1955-1973), low economic growth, continuous social pressure and two military dictatorships ("liberate revolution" in 1955-58 and "Argentine Revolution" 1966-1973). Exiled, Juan Perón continued to observe and analyze the situation in Argentina and communicate with Argentine and foreign allies and sympathizers.

It is in this context that Juan Péron wrote this letter to Don Lawrence A. Flockhart, an 18-year-old Englishman, fascist and Peronist. In it, Perón comments on the article "The Treasure that Perón can't touch" by Randolph Churchill, published in the newspaper "News of the world" sent by Flockhart. He vigorously criticizes the author, calling him a "scoundrel" and describes the newspaper as having "little value and importance". To explain his reasoning, he attaches a manuscript where Argentina's economic situation was analyzed with "data and statistics".

Here we appreciate Perón's style and emotion in this important year 1961, when certainly frustrated by exile, he explains his historical vision in a very relevant way in the second document. Also interesting are details such as the personalized header and the signature in red of one of the most important Latin personalities of the 20th century.