As Eva was making her way was an actress in radionovelas, the revolution of June 4, 1943, in which the conservative president and civilian government were overthrown by a group of Army colonels, brought signifigant changes to Argentina and to radio. In line with the campaign for public morality launched by the new military government, broadcasting was regulated, pessimistic plots in radio dramas were discouraged—as was the tango—and it became necessary to obtain a permit from the Postal and Telecommunications Bureau for each program. Lieutenant Colonel Aníbal Imbert was in charge of that bureau for the new regime and Eva wisely befriended him, his secretary, Oscar Nicolini, and Nicolini’s wife. Through these contacts, Eva signed a contract with Radio Belgrano, where she acted in romance and mystery serials. Prophetically, Imbert even procured for her the starring role in a new series based on the lives of famous women in history—Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, Queen Elizabeth I, Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt, Catherine the Great—in which she would perform until she ended her artistic career in favor of a political one.
Despite conflicting versions of the role initially played by Colonel Juan Perón in the June 4 coup, it was he who emerged as the real authority in the new regime. He was named Minister of War and was in charge of labor relations through his position as director of the National Department of Labor, which he transformed into the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare. With the approval of the General Staff, he used the Secretariat to gain union support by implementing a bold policy of concessions to labor. Like millions of other Argentines, Eva Duarte responded immediately and powerfully to Perón’s appeal.
By most accounts, Eva Duarte and Juan Perón first met on January 22, 1944, at a benefit to aid victims of a recent earthquake, although they may have been introduced at a party a few days earlier. The benefit was organized by Perón through the Secretariat of Labor, and popular figures from the world of entertainment played a dominant role in the relief effort. Eva was there to help solicit donations and as spokesperson for the Argentine Radio Association, a trade union she had helped to found. Juan Perón was 49 and had been a widower for five years; Eva was 24. From that moment of initial contact until her death eight years later, she fervently devoted herself to him and la fe Perónista—the Perónist faith—that he embodied.
Over the next few decisive months, Perón gradually—though increasingly—occupied the seat of political power, and he shocked his comrades by allowing his new companion to take part, timidly at first, in his political meetings. President Ramirez resigned in March 1944 and replaced by Farrell, who made Perón his vice-president. On June 1, Eva made her political debut by beginning a series of morning talks on Radio Belgrano promoting the principles of the June 4 revolution. Her texts, which were prepared by Francisco Munoz Aspiri, the scriptwriter for her radio plays, already had the exalted tone and the demand for justice that would characterize all of Evita’s public performances.