OTHER RECENT BOOKS
IN recent years, to the bewilderment of the Argentine public, Washington has alter- nately used the 'big stick" and the abrazo when dealing with their government. In 1947 Mr. James • Bruce—a hard-headed American millionaire—was sent as Ambas- sador to Buenos Aires with instructions to fraternise with the people and win the friendship of President Peron, whom Ambas- sador Spruille Braden had previously de- nounced as an enemy of the free world. Mr. Bruce, with the bustle and bonhomie of the successful business man, toured the whole country, met all manner of people, and embraced their ruler. He was, of course, an amateur diplomat; and he is an amateur author.
Nevertheless, in spite of its superficiality, British business men travelling to the River Plate for the first time will be well advised to read this book in the aeroplane while they fly across the monotonous wastes of the South Atlantic. The chapter on the Argentine family, for example, will be found to be helpful, describing as it does the rigid protocol which governs the routine of the Argentine household—and, incidentally, the husband's extra-marital relations. The privileged position of the male is rightly emphasised: while a strong belief in 'the virtue of womanhood and the sanctity of the home' is at the foundation of Argentine society, it is typical also that a married man should remark :' It's the women who marry— We remain single. Our wives are expected to keep their knowledge of such things to themselves. We Argentines are men first, husbands second.' Another subject to which authors of books about Argentina usually give little attention but to which Mr. Bruce devotes several valuable pages, is the role of the Catholic Church in the life of the nation. 'The Church is everywhere,' he says, and a priest will even be present to officiate at the opening of a new shop in Buenos Aires or at a labour meeting. And in their religion, as in everything else, the Argentines feel themselves to be superior to their neighbours: 'They regard the Church in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Latin America's west coast countries as a primitive institution ... so corrupted by Indian pagean- try and symbolism as to be almost another religion.'
Mr. Bruce's comments on President Peron and his lote wife are--surprisingly, in view of his close personal acquaintance with the pair .no more profound or authoritative than those of the average American journalist who has covered the story.
70. B.
Previous page
