Epilogue

Abstract

In 1958 Frondizi embodied the politics of hope. Hope that somehow the darker aspects of Peronism would be left behind forever, that the country would finally face the future and join the modern world, that reason and reasonableness would replace prejudice and demagoguery. In post-Peronist Argentina, if people welcomed a ‘visionary’ approach to politics, they were perhaps keener to find correct attitudes rather than abstract ideas. The ‘technocratic’ or ‘scientific’ appearance of the developmentalists was well received — it was regarded not only as ‘modern’ but ‘serious’ as well. The UCR had not been a party of ideas but of moral principles. Frondizi and the UCRI seemed to promise a new era in party politics, but the renovating intentions did not materialise. The promised ‘modernisation’ of the party resulted in its split in late 1962, with Frondizi and Frigerio remaining at the head of the minuscule Movement for Integration and Development (MID) which had its most prominent role supporting General Onganía’s thwarted ‘Argentine Revolution’, and later added its tiny voice to the many Peronist coalitions that were set up in the next thirty years.¹