Cult of personality

===Argentina===
[[File:Museo del Bicentenario - Afiche "Forjador de la Nueva Argentina".jpg|thumb|upright|"Shaper of the New Great Argentina" (poster 1947)]]
{{See also|Peronism|Evita Perón}}

[[Juan Perón]], who was elected three times as [[President of Argentina]], and his second wife, [[Eva Perón|Eva "Evita" Perón]], were immensely popular among many of the Argentine people, and to this day they are still considered icons by the leading [[Justicialist Party]]. In contrast, academics and detractors often considered him a [[demagogue]] and a dictator. Perón sympathised with the [[Axis powers]] when he was a colonel and Minister of War<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=February 18, 1946 |title=Neighbor Accused |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792573,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129121752/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792573,00.html |archive-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> and even served as a diplomatic envoy to [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]]. During his regime he kept close ties with [[Francoist Spain]]. He ferociously persecuted dissents and potential political rivals, as political arrests were common during his first two terms. He eroded the [[Republicanism|republican]] principles of the country as a way to stay in power and forced statewide censorship on most media.<ref name="Martínez Eloy">{{Cite magazine |last=Martínez |first=Tomás Eloy |date=January 20, 1997 |title=The woman behind the fantasy. prostitute, fascist, profligate – Eva Perón was much maligned, mostly unfairly |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970120/cinema.the_woman.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011221053805/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970120/cinema.the_woman.html |archive-date=December 21, 2001 |access-date=January 28, 2009}}</ref> Following his election, he built a personality cult around both himself and his wife so pervasive it is still a part of Argentina's current political life.<ref>''Politics and Education in Argentina'', 1946–1962, by Mónica Esti Rein; trans by Martha Grenzeback. Published by M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY/London, 1998, pp. 79–80.</ref>

During Perón's regime, schools were forced to read Evita's biography ''[[La Razón de mi Vida]]'', union and government jobs were only given to those who could prove themselves to be a fervent Peronist, newspapers were censored and television and radio networks were nationalized, and only state media was allowed. He often showed contempt for any opponents, regularly characterizing them as traitors and agents of foreign powers. Those who did not fall in line or were perceived as a threat to Perón's political power were subject to losing their jobs, threats, violence and harassment. Perón dismissed over 20,000 university professors and faculty members from all major public education institutions.<ref name="rock">{{Cite book |last=Rock |first=David |title=Argentina, 1516–1982 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1987}}</ref> Universities were then intervened, the faculty was pressured to get in line and those who resisted were [[blacklisted]], dismissed or exiled. Numerous prominent cultural and intellectual figures were imprisoned.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Palermo online |url=http://www.palermonline.com.ar/noticias_2008/nota104_literatos_tos.htm |access-date=January 27, 2011 |website=Palermonline.com.ar}}</ref> Thousands of artists, scientists, writers and academics left the country, migrated to North America or Europe. Union leaders and political rivals were arrested and tortured for years<ref name="eh-Pigna">{{Cite web |last=Pigna |first=Felipe |title=Ricardo Balbín |url=http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/biografias/b/balbin.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128221706/http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/biografias/b/balbin.php |archive-date=November 28, 2011 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |website=Elhistoriador.com.ar |publisher=El Historiador |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Feitlowitz |first=Marguerite |title=A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2002}}</ref> and were only released after Perón was deposed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 2, 2001 |title=Clarín |url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |access-date=January 27, 2011 |website=Clarin.com |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627040037/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>