Valiant, alluring, and powerful, intimidating yet simultaneously vulnerable and unknown: this is the paradox of Eva Perón.  Her reputation has an aura of myth and ambiguity about it, partly because of the elusiveness of her private life, but mostly because of the singularity of her role in Argentine politics.  After working as an actress for radio and stage, Eva came to prominence in 1945 when she married Juan Perón, who was elected President of Argentina the following year.  During the first six years of his presidency, she virtually became his partner in governing the country and ran the ministries of health and labor, and controversy surrounding her role still has not been fully resolved. When Eva Perón died in 1952, the official bulletin from Buenos Aires announced the death of “the spiritual leader of the nation.”  Though the news had been expected for months, it send shock waves through Argentina, and the country went into deep mourning.  She was only thirty-three years old at the time of her death, but she had dominated the public scene in Argentina like no one before her.  This exposure had a high cost, however.  While she was a passionate orator and a militant champion of the poor and oppressed, the response to Evita, as she was known, was extreme.  The working class, identifying with her humble background, felt an almost religious veneration for her; the middle and upper classes rejected her as an ambitious opportunist at war with established values.      Again and again in her brief life, Evita triumphed over circumstances to become a champion of the people; her public persona endured and flourished despite dramatic shifts and turns that seem to confound generalization.  Evita’s career has been a historical enigma obscured by the very myth she engendered.  Over the more than four decades since her death, many books have been published about her, and she has been repeatedly “discovered” by Broadway and Hollywood.  But who was Evita?  How did she come to such power and fame?  Was she of her time or ahead of it?  What is important about her story is the inherent fascination it holds even for those who are not interested in politics.  It is a very human story that tells of a dramatic life, the life of someone who was passionate, tender, intelligent, and indomitable.
Eva María Duarte was born on May 7, 1919 in Los Toldos, a tiny village in the countryside surrounding Buenos Aires.  She was the youngest of five children born to Juana Ibarguren and Juan Duarte, a conservative rancher from the nearby town of Chivilcoy.  In Los Toldos, which means “the tents,” siestas were long, streets were unpaved, and the passing of a train was the major event in a day.  Juana and her children lived in a modest house, but there were large open spaces where they could play.      When Eva María was only eight years old, her father was killed in a car accident and Juana and her children were left to fend for themselves.  Eva’s modest roots in Los Toldos were vital to her later role as a champion of the poor and working classes.  In a memoir entitled “My Sister Evita,” Erminda Duarte recounts that “…Mama couldn’t buy us toys.  She and a sewing machine, working from morning until after midnight, provided us with the bare necessities.”  The memoir goes on to tell about the beautiful doll that young Eva wanted desperately and asked the Three Kings to bring her.  Her wish was granted but the doll had a broken leg.  Her mother explained that it had fallen of the camels ridden by the Wise Men.  “What our mother didn’t tell you was that the Kings had brought the doll for you to take care of.  [It was] a mission.”
				Certificate of Baptism for Eva Duarte.  The document is dated November 21,1919.  Father is cited as Juan Duarte; Mother Juana Ibarguren. Click picture to englarge.
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