Levingston, Roberto Marcelo (1920–)

Roberto Marcelo Levingston (b. 10 January 1920), president of Argentina (18 June 1970–March 1971). With the fall of Juan Carlos Onganía, Alejandro Lanusse stayed in the background while the military junta recalled Levingston from the post of military attaché in Washington, D.C., to assume the presidency. The first item on his agenda after taking office was to salvage Onganía's stabilization plan. When that attempt failed, Levingston brought in Aldo Ferrer as economic minister. By October 1970 he and Ferrer had expanded credit, initiated a 6 percent pay hike, and promoted exports through a "buy Argentine" campaign.

Levingston's reform program notwithstanding, unrest burgeoned among labor, guerrillas, and political parties, with the latter forming a broad coalition, including Peronists, called the "Hour of the People." When Córdoba's governor, José Luis Camilo, dubbed some political agitators "vipers," he sparked the viborazo, a guerrilla insurrection. Alarmed, the military deposed Levingston and installed Lanusse as president, marking the end of the "Argentine Revolution."

See alsoArgentina: The Twentieth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrew Graham-Yooll, De Perón a Videla (1989).

Additional Bibliography

Amézola, Gonzalo de. Levingston y Lanusse, o, El arte de lo imposible. La Plata: Editorial de la U.N.L.P, 2000.

Perina, Rubén. Onganía, Levingston, Lanusse: Los militares en la política argentina. Buenos Aires: Editorial de Belgrano, 1983.

                                      Roger Gravil