One of the reasons it was easy for the junta, lead by Jorge Videla, to seize power was the highly unstable condition that Argentina was in, and had been in for decades. And the coup of 1976 was not the first threat to democracy; in September of 1955 all three branches of the military revolted and forced the president, Juan Perón, into exile. Eleven years later in 1966, military rule was imposed again by a new leader, Juan Carlos Ongania, only to have former president Perón return in 1973, and die in 1974. Perón was succeeded by his third wife, Isabel Martinez de Perón, who was quickly ousted by a new military dictatorship lead by Jorge Videla in 1976.