History, Second Term

In January 1953 the government inaugurated a second five-year plan. The plan emphasized increased agricultural output instead of all-out industrialization, which had been the goal of the first five-year plan. During 1953 Argentina concluded important economic and trade agreements with several countries, notably Britain, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and Chile. Foreign commercial transactions in 1953 produced a favorable balance of trade, the first since 1950; but inflationary pressures, which had resulted in an increase in the cost of living of more than 200 percent since 1948, did not lessen.

In November 1954, Peron accused a group of Roman Catholic clergymen of “fostering agitation” against the government. Despite church opposition, the government proposed and secured enactment during the next two months of legislation legalizing absolute divorce, granting all benefits of legitimacy to children born out of wedlock, and legalizing prostitution. The schism between church and state widened steadily in the succeeding months.