From 1891 to 1941, Santiago - Chile's capital and its largest and most important city - experienced rapid urbanization, industrialization, and administrative expansion along with a massive internal migration that had significant social and economic consequences for the city. This book is the first study to focus on this important period in Santiago's history. Drawing on a wide range of original research, the book describes the growth of the city, both demographically and physically, and highlights the role of the local administration in this process. Histories of urban politics are relatively rare for both Chile in particular and Latin America in general, and this study seeks to fill these gaps. Some of the topics covered include the impact of Chile's complex multi-party system on local administration, the role of corruption in the management of city affairs, the relationship between the municipality and powerful foreign interests, the emergence of economic nationalism, and the pioneering part played by women both as voters and as elected officials in the capital's governance.

Peter Benton arrives in Buenos Aires, Argentina in June 1945 to investigate possible fraud in the local office of a foreign film distributor. In Buenos Aires, he reunites with his partner from his days in the OSS, who has been posted to the U.S. embassy. His friend recruits him to spy on the most powerful figure in Argentina, Colonel Juan Peron, and his young mistress, Eva Duarte. Complicating the assignment is the simultaneous arrival of a former Germany army officer who is on a secret mission to deliver gold to Peron that will help pave the way for the re-birth of the Third Reich. Benton soon finds himself caught up in a dangerous game of high-stakes diplomacy, political intrigure, deceit, and betrayal, a game that not only puts his own life in danger but one that threatens the life of the young Argentine beauty with whom he falls in love. This story of suspense and romance is told against the realistic backdrop of a major turning point in the history of Argentina and its relations with the United States.

The period of 1960 to 1975 was a time when the United States paid more than the usual amount of attention to relations with Latin America, contending with Fidel Castro's efforts to export the revolution and with Salvador Allende's efforts to establish a socialist government in Chile, for example. During this turbulent era, U.S. relations with Peru were fraught with tensions and difficulties, too: the Kennedy administration wrestled with the question of how to deal with the military regime that took over by coup in 1962, the administration of Lyndon Johnson tangled with Peru over its expropriation of the International Petroleum Company and its effort to establish a two-hundred-mile limit for its territorial waters, and the government under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford had to contend with the policies of a reformist military regime that took an even harder line on expropriation and fishing rights than its civilian predecessor. Using newly declassified records from the U.S. State Department as well as records from the archives of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, supplemented by interviews with participants from both sides, Richard Walter provides a nuanced look at the complexities of Peruvian-U.S. relations during this important period, highlighting especially the hitherto neglected role of the ambassadors from each country in managing the relationship and influencing the outcomes.

Buenos Aires is Argentina's national capital and largest city. This book describes the development of the city during the period from 1910 to the early 1940s. It focuses on the role of politics and local government in the evolution of the city, detailing elections, party competition, and debates on important public works issues. The political story is set within the larger context of the overall growth of the capital. This is the first work to cover comprehensively the history of the city for this period and the first to concentrate on the neglected topic of local government.

Buenos Aires is Argentina’s wealthiest, largest, and most populous province, and has long been the key prize in all major electoral struggles, has received little scholarly attention. This first account of its political history between 1912 and 1943 underscores its role as a vital factor in national political life. Particular attention is given to the part the province has played in national presidential elections, the relationship between provincial administrations and the national government, and the struggle between the two principal political parties, the Partido Conservador and the Union Civica Radical, which vied for control of the province during the early part of this century. Based on a wide range of sources, including newspapers, government documents, archival sources, and personal interviews, the book describes the fascinating political interplay of competing forces in the most important electoral arena of one of Latin America’s most important countries.

Buenos Aires is Argentina's national capital and largest city. Throughout the twentieth century the capital and its surrounding suburbs have contained between one quarter and one third of the nation's population. It has served as Argentina's main economic and political center, and has dominated the rest of the country as few other capital cities have. This book traces the history of the city from 1910 to the early 1940s, a period of continued growth and expansion. It focuses in particular on the role of politics and municipal government in directing the city's growth, highlighting elections, party competition, and debates over important issues of public works, public transportation, and public utilities. The political story, in turn, takes place within the larger context of urban development over the course of these decades. Not only is it the first comprehensive treatment of this period in Buenos Aires history; it is also one of the few works to deal with the role of local government in the general literature on Latin American urbanization. In preparing the book, Walter worked extensively with the minutes of city council meetings, the national congressional record, the observations of foreign officials and visitors, popular magazines and newspapers, and a wide variety of other matenals.

In the early part of the twentieth century, Argentina's Socialist Party became the largest and most effective socialist organization in Latin America. Richard J. Walter's interpretive study begins with the party's origins in the 1890s, traces its development through 1912, and then offers a comprehensive analysis of its activities and programs during the almost two decades of civilian, democratic government that ended with the military coup of 1930. His aim has been to provide a detailed case study of a Latin American political party within a specific historical context. The work gives particular attention to the nature of party leadership, internal party organization, attempts to win the support of the Argentine working class, party activities in national elections and the National Congress, and internal disputes and divisions. In discussing these topics, Walter draws heavily on government documents, including national and municipal censuses, ministerial reports, and the Argentine Congressional Record. He also makes extensive use of national and party newspapers and journals, political memoirs, and collections of essays by party leaders. Walter concludes that the party enjoyed relative electoral and legislative success because of efficient organization, capable leadership, and specific, well-reasoned programs. On the other hand, it failed to create a firm working-class base or to extend its influence much beyond Buenos Aires, mainly because of its inability to relate adequately to the needs of the proletariat and to the growth of nationalist sentiment. The analysis of these successes and failures also provides an important background for understanding the rise to power of Juan Peron and Peronism.