Background
Agustín Pedro Justo was born on 26 February 1878 in Entre Ríos Province.
Agustín Pedro Justo was born on 26 February 1878 in Entre Ríos Province.
Graduated from the military academy in 1892. He later taught at and was director of that academy.
In 1922 Justo served as minister of war for a Radical government, and in 1930 he was named commander-in-chief for the Uriburu government that overthrew Hipólito Yrigoyen. He was then elected president by a coalition of conservative groups known as the Concordancia.
In 1938 Justo ceded power to the governmental candidate Roberto Ortiz in an extremely dishonest election. When Ortiz’ health failed, he was succeeded in office by his vice president, Ramón Castillo, who was the final representative of the Concordancia to hold power. He was overthrown in the 1943 coup that led to Domingo Juan Perón.
Justo’s most pressing problem was to revive the Argentine economy which had been badly hurt by the world Depression. To this end, his government signed the Roca-Runciman Pact, in order to preserve Argentina’s traditional trading relationship with Great Britain. The agreement provided an outlet for Argentine meat products, but was denounced by industrialists. Socialists, and nationalists who charged the government had sold out to foreign interests.
The Justo government was politically very conservative and engaged in widespread fraud to ensure that government candidates won elections. In 1932 the Radical Party boycotted elections to protest electoral dishonesty. Justo’s government constantly supported oligarchical interests against the newly emerging forces: urban workers, the middle class, and industrialists.
