Per�n, (Maria) Eva Duarte De, known as Evita 1919-52
Argentine popular leader and social reformer

The second wife of Juan Per�n, Eva Per�n was born into a poor family in Los Toldos, Buenos Aires. She was a radio and stage actress before her marriage to Juan Per�n in 1945. She played a major part in his successful presidential campaign the following year, and became a powerful political influence and mainstay of the Per�n government. Meanwhile she used her position to press for women's suffrage, by founding the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949, and by acquiring control of newspapers and business companies.

As de facto Minister of Health and Labour, she gained politcal support for her husband from among the working classes. Idolized by the populace herself, she founded the Eva Per�n Foundation for the promotion of social welfare. After her death, support for her husband waned. When he was overthrown in 1955 her body was stolen and kept hidden until the early 1970s; it was repatriated by Isabelita Per�n after Juan Per�n's death in 1974.

Evita Per�n's life story was the theme of a popular musical by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice (1978).

Bibliography: Eva Per�n's autobiography was published in English as My Mission in Life (1953). See also N Fraser and M Navarro, Eva Per�n (1980); Julie M Taylor, Evita Per�n: The Myths of a Woman (1979); John Barnes, Evita, First Lady: A Biography of Eva Per�n (1978).