For the vast majority of the period between 1946-1959, Argentine Antarctic Science was not in the hands of specifically scientific ministries. Instead, it was under the direct or indirect control of the Foreign Ministry or various branches and incarnations of the Ministry of Defense. This gives a rather crude initial clue as to the purpose of Argentine scientific research in Antarctica at this time. In a more complicated fashion, the changing nature of the institutional structure that lay behind Argentine Antarctic Science provides a useful insight into the politics, especially the internal politics, that lay behind the science. The key figure in Argentine politics at this time was General Juan Domingo Perón, who was pre-sident of Argentina between 1946 and 195514. Between 1946 and 1959, Argen-tine Antarctic Science can be broken into three distinct periods that broadly follow the chapters within Perón’s presidency 1946-51, 1951-55, 1955-59.
These sections will be explored in detail in the paragraphs that follow. Argentine Antarctic Science was not an abstract and separate part of Argentine history over this period, but rather that it was an integral part of the broader changes.
14 Page 1983.
In March 1946, shortly after the election of General Perón, decree number 8,507 reorganized the Argentine Antarctic Commission, under the leadership of José M Moneta, a famous figure in the history of Laurie Island15. The commis-sion had originally been created in 1940 but had become inactive after a military coup in 194316. The re-organized Antarctic Commission remained part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, although it greatly increased the scope of its membership to include representatives of the Justice, War, Naval, Agricul-ture and Aeronautical Ministries. The main task of the Commission was political rather than scientific: namely to send expeditions to Antarctica in order to assert Argentina’s sovereignty rights. Several months after the reorganization, Moneta resigned, claiming that the new President failed to support his plans for re-newed Argentine activity in Antarctica17. Pascual La Rosa, who succeeded Moneta as leader of the commission in October 1946, enjoyed greater support from the President and under this new leader Argentina resumed its expeditions to Antarctica.
Early in 1947, Argentina sent its first expedition to Antarctica for four years. This expedition, which founded a meteorological station in the Melchior Archipelago, was conducted almost entirely by the Navy and set the tone for similar such expeditions which took place in 1948, 1949 and 195018. The dominant role of the Navy in Antarctic expeditions meant that Naval Officials came to dominate the organizational structure. The Navy’s hegemony in Antarctic affairs had been earned through over 40 years of involvement with the southern continent, but during this period it was something of a double-edged sword for President Perón. On the one hand, moves to assert Argentine sovereignty in Antarctica – particularly against British “imperialists” – fitted neatly with the nationalist ele-ment of Perón’s policy. On the other hand. the Navy was perhaps the Argentine Institution most fiercely critical of the new President, and its leaders saw in Antarctica a chance to assert their autonomy19. As Perón’s grip on power in Argentina increased, he looked for a way to usurp the Navy’s power in Antarctic Affairs.
The second phase in the chronology of Argentine Antarctic Science began with Perón’s takeover of Antarctic affairs. Perón’s actions in assuming control of Antarctic policy mirrored his tactics in other areas of national life. Unhappy with the existing organizational structure, Perón simply created a new organization, favored this with his patronage and put his own man in charge. The foundation of the Instituto Antártico Argentino early in 1951, coincided with the so-called First Argentine Scientific Expedition to Antarctica that took place at the same time and which founded the San Martín base in Marguerite Bay. The driving force behind both the Instituto and the Scientific Expedition was Colonel Hernán Pujato of the Argentine Army20. Pujato had won the support of the President by putting forward a systematic program for a permanent Argentine presence in Antarctica. This program included greater scientific activity in the region.
15 Genest 2001: 68.
16 Comisión Nacional del Antártico 1948: 72.
17 Comisión Nacional del Antártico 1953 [unpublished].
18 Pierrou 1981: 91-349.
19 Barbadori 1999.
20 Genest 1998; Rigoz 2002.
Pujato’s rise in Antarctic affairs marked a distinct shift from the Navy to the Army. High ranking naval officers responded to this shift by refusing to supply a boat to the Scientific Expedition, meaning that a merchant vessel, the Santa Michaela, had to be found instead21.
Initially the Instituto – soon to be renamed the Instituto Antártico Hernán Pujato – was under the control of the Ministry of Technical Affairs. This was the near-est that Argentine Antarctic policy during the period 1946-1959 came to being under the control of a specifically scientific ministry. But in July 1952 the Insti-tuto passed to depend upon the Ministry of Defense and its successors. Al-though the Instituto did make a greater effort to coordinate Antarctic Science, its primary purpose remained political as the preamble to its founding decree made clear: “It is the firm intention of this government to secure undeniable rights to the Antarctic region for the Argentine nation.” The Antarctic Commission in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was never formally disbanded during this period, al-though its importance waned rapidly after the foundation of the Antarctic Insti-tute. Through the creation and patronage of the Antarctic Institute Perón left his distinctive stamp upon the organization structure of Argentine Antarctic Science.
However, in doing so he had further alienated the Navy.
The third phase of Argentine Antarctic Science during this period began when the Revolución Libertadora toppled President Perón in September 1955. At this time General Pujato was commanding Argentina’s newly constructed Belgrano base on the edge of the Filchner Ice Barrier in the Weddell Sea. When Pujato returned to Argentina early in 1956, the new government immediately informed him that he was no longer director of the Argentine Antarctic Institute, and he was forced to resign. The Revolución Libertadora, which had been largely inspired and led by Naval Officers, therefore marked another distinct shift in the organizational structure of Antarctic Science. However, the new military govern-ment maintained Perón’s overall policy of asserting Argentina’s rights to sover-eignty in the region.
Under the military government, the Instituto Antárctico was re-constituted for a second time and became part of the Naval Ministry; Contraalmirante Panzarini became its new director. The decree that reorganized the Instituto stated that it was “an organism of scientific and technical character with the purpose of stu-dying Antarctica.” The Instituto moved to its present location in the center of Buenos Aires, and the building was equipped with up to date scientific facilities including apparatus purchased in the United States22. By this stage Antarctic Science had gathered international significance with preparations for the Inter-national Geophysical Year that would take place between 1957 and 1958, and the Instituto played a major role in coordinating Argentina’s contributions to this important scientific endeavor. Prestige in Antarctic affairs had become inextri-cably linked to scientific research, and the political and scientific work of the Instituto could hardly be distinguished. By the time the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959, Argentina had returned to democratic government under Pre-sident Frondizi.
21 Rigoz 2002.
22 Comerci 1979.
The Treaty was presented to the Argentine people as a guarantee of Argen-tina’s sovereignty in the region rather than as an internationalization of the continent. Nevertheless, the Treaty led to a major change in the international politics of Antarctica and represented a conclusion of sorts to the three-way sovereignty dispute in the Antarctic Peninsula.