This chapter illustrates how mass communication brought “power to the people” and effectively unified people, who had always been inherently similar, but lacked access to understand the extent of their similarities. Dawson explains how radio changed the previous dynamic, where crowds were formerly “unable to sustain movements that went much further than the village boundary for any length of time.” Populist movements gained momentum because working-class people were finally able to connect with their peers in other parts of the nation; they could feel familiar with their leaders in a more intimate way; and finally, the working-class had an unprecedented influence on popular culture and therefore mass culture. Music and popular culture quickly became either a platform for politicians, who were able to manipulate it to their advantage, or alternatively, a detriment to those who could not.

Evita stands out as the most intriguing figure through this lens of history of Latin America. President Juan Perón and wife María Eva Duarte de Perón “Evita” unquestionably made use of mass communication in both radio and the loudspeaker and microphone to a new extreme, drawing crowds speculated at up to one million people. In Evita’s “town hall” speech it is evident that she uses “Fatherland” to be synonymous with Argentina (“The Peronist Version of the Speech” includes the phrase 19 times). This is especially interesting as post-colonial nations are rarely so uniquely identifiable that those born there recognize a single identity.  In history, similar titles are more readily attatched to a Republic’s founding “mother country” or a political force, for example; Germany is commonly referred to as The Fatherland and Russia the Motherland. While this title is fluid, it is undoubtedly associated with power and strength. With this perspective, it is evident why Evita was so magnetic to the working-class; she empowered them like never before. Unlike her husband, she really was one of them. The women, men, and children she affectionately referred to as “descamidos” were her people who she addressed from the presidential balcony.

Interestingly for the time, she mentions her gender several times in her speaking, but scarcely mentions how incredible and unique it was, especially considering Argentina’s delay in giving women the vote, that the people were so desperate to her in office. Around the world, a woman in a democratically elected position was extremely rare. As I began to wonder whether or not she appreciated the magnitude of such events, “The Renunciamiento as Compiled from Newsreel and Archival Footage” records her saying, off-script; “that this moment is very important for a woman just as any other citizen.” On the topic of gender, she is also an intriguing figure because for someone with so much power and influence she relies heavily on her traditional role as wife of the President.