The conservative restoration and the Concordancia, 1930–43
During the next 13 years, which have often been termed “the Infamous Decade,” the armed forces sponsored a conservative restoration. After expelling Irigoyen they installed General José Félix Uriburu in the presidency (1930–32). Uriburu was a descendent of an old, conservative northern family, and he leaned toward fascism. His influence with the army, however, was not as great as that of General Agustín Pedro Justo, a former minister of war under Alvear, who favoured a gradual conservative reorientation of the country. The Radicals, who had been reorganized under the leadership of Alvear, won an unexpected victory in trial elections held in the province of Buenos Aires in April 1931, but the Radicals’ activities were then severely restricted (including the arrest or exile of their leaders), and their members either boycotted or were barred from the national election of 1931. General Justo, in contrast, had the backing of the Concordancia (a coalition of conservatives, a faction of the Radicals, and independent socialists), and, with only limited electoral fraud, he was elected by a large majority.
The new president, facing a difficult economic situation, instituted several controversial reforms and initiatives. In 1933 he signed the Roca-Runciman Agreement with Great Britain, which guaranteed Argentina a fixed share in the British meat market and eliminated tariffs on Argentine cereals. In return, Argentina agreed to restrictions with regard to trade and currency exchange, and it preserved Britain’s commercial interests in the country. Many Argentines saw the treaty as a sellout to Britain, although from the British point of view the pact accorded privileges not given to any other country outside their empire. Other unpopular reforms included restructuring the monetary system and establishing agencies to control exports. After 1935 the economic climate improved.
The election of 1937, in which the government retained its power, was marked by fraud and violence; however, the next president, Roberto M. Ortiz, returned to more proper electoral procedures, calling for federal intervention in the province of Buenos Aires, where a corrupt conservative machine had been in control. Ortiz’s poor health obliged him to resign in 1940, and his successor, Ramón S. Castillo, restored the conservative coalition to power and gained the support of General Justo.
At the outbreak of World War II, Argentina declared its neutrality, and it remained neutral even after the United States entered the conflict in 1941. Castillo’s motives for this stance were largely economic, and he attempted to court trade agreements with both the United States and the Axis powers while maintaining a significant commerce with Britain; however, his policies were only partly successful, and Argentina struggled to arm and equip its military while other Latin American nations received generous lend-lease shipments from the United States. In the face of opposition from both pro-Allied and pro-Axis groups, as well as concerns over the increasing strength of the United States-supplied Brazilian military, Castillo imposed a state of siege. General Justo died in January 1943, leaving the president without his most influential supporter, and Castillo was overthrown in June.