A Timeline of Events: EVITA and Eva Perón

Been wondering the timeline of the events in EVITA? Check it out below!

• Eva Duarte was born May 17, 1919, in Los Toldos, a small village 150 miles west of Buenos Aires. Youngest of five illegitimate children, her parents never married. Her father died in 1926 and the family moved to Junin, where she met tango singer Agustin Magaldi as a teenager.
• Eva moved to Buenos Aires (at age 15) with Magaldi in 1935 to become an actress
• June 1943: The Grupo de Oficiales Unidos (GOU), who believe that only military dictatorship can bring glory to Argentina, march into Buenos Aires and depose President Castillo. Juan Perón becomes Chief of the Secretariat of the War Ministry.
• January 1944: Eva met Juan Perón at a fundraising concert for earthquake victims.
• 1944: President Ramirez breaks off relations with Nazi Germany and is deposed. The new President Farrell makes Perón Minister of War and of Labour, and later Vice President.
• 1945: Perón and Eva court the support of the working class – “descamisados” – whose wages increase when Peron combines the unions into one big organization, the Confederation General de Trabejo. The Military powers become worried with Perón’s increasing power, and they demand his resignation.
• October 1945: Plaza de Mayo is the scene of a massive pro-Perón demonstration with 50,000-100,000 workers calling for the re-instatement of Perón. Perón is released and appears in triumph on the Casa Rosada balcony. Perón and Eva marry in a private ceremony.
• Perón is elected president in February 1946.
• Eva Perón becomes First Lady of Argentina. She is hated by the aristocracy and military, and loved by the working class; she tells them she is taking riches only for them, so they may inherit them in the future. She also campaigned heavily for women’s suffrage (achieved in 1951)
• Rainbow tour: In June 1947, Eva embarked on a tour of Europe, to gain the new regime respectability in the Old World, to bury old associations with Nazi Germany and to re-open European markets for meat and grain. 150,000 people saw her off at the airport; she was enthusiastically welcomed in Spain, treated with some respect in Italy, tolerated in Paris, insulted in Switzerland and snubbed in Great Britain.
• 1949: The Peronist Women’s Party is set up, with Eva as its President
• October 1951: On the sixth anniversary of her first appearance on the Casa Rosada balcony, Eva makes her last public pronouncement, urging all who lover her to understand that her life has been devoted to the people, her country and Perón. Juan Perón declares October 17 “Santa Evita’s Day”
• June 4, 1952 Juan Perón is sworn in for his second term as President. Eva collapse later that day in the Casa Rosada.
• July 26, 1952, Eva Perón died of cancer in Buenos Aires, at age 33.
• 1952-1974: The working class slowly began to lose faith in Perón. His opposition began to get bolder, and in 1955, military leaders seized power in Cordoba and were able to drive Peron out. He spent the next 18 years in exile, mainly in Venezuela and Spain. Despite the fact that the new government made any support of Perón illegal (including even saying his name in public), he maintained great influence over Argentine politics from exile, and candidates he supported frequently won elections. By 1973, millions were clamoring for him to return and he was re-elected, but died of a heart attack in 1974.

Please note that many of these dates and details have been debated by experts and are not 100% confirmed.

EVITA is on stage now thru April 27th! Click here for more information and tickets.

Want to read about the history of Eva Peron? Click here to see our previous blog post.

Want to read about the history behind the major scenes in EVITA? Click here to see our previous blog post.

Want to read things to know about the revival of Evita? Click here to see our previous blog post.

See you at the theater!

-DSM Amanda