Oscar Ivanissevich

Oscar Ivanissevich entered public life through medicine and university administration. A surgeon who became a rector-interventor and supporter of Juan Perón, he served as ambassador in Washington before becoming secretary and then minister of education. His first period directing national education, from 1948 to 1950, helped develop the cultural and educational institutions associated with early Peronism. ¹

In Washington he participated in the effort to settle outstanding wartime disputes. In April 1947, he carried a message from Harry Truman to Perón concerning the remaining action sought against enemy agents. Ambassador George Messersmith's report records both the favorable reception of Truman's approach and a significant error: Ivanissevich had told the president that no Nazi agents remained in Argentina, although Argentine officials knew that some were still at large. The foreign minister attributed this to Ivanissevich's being inadequately informed. ²

Ivanissevich returned to the education ministry under Isabel Perón in 1974 and left in August 1975. Historian Lucía Abbattista describes that administration as an effort to impose a conservative Catholic and anti-Marxist order on education. University interventions, disciplinary measures, and conflict with teachers' and students' organizations produced sustained opposition. ¹