Buenos Aires, Argentina
February 25 – March 8, 1951
The first Pan American Sports Congress, meeting in late August of 1940, scheduled the inaugural Pan American Games for Buenos Aires in 1942. The outbreak of World War II prevented the celebration of these Games, but Argentina nonetheless maintained its commitment. The II Pan American Sports Congress, held at the 1948 London Olympic Games, approved plans for holding the Games three years later in Buenos Aires. On February 25, 1951, Argentine President Juan Peron opened the inaugural Games before an estimated crowd of 100,000 with his wife Evita, co-president of the Games, standing beside him. Twenty-one countries sent 2,513 athletes to compete in 18 sports. The host Argentine team performed especially well, winning 150 medals, including 68 gold. Despite having trouble raising the money to send a large contingent of athletes, the United States Olympic Committee sent 175 women and men to compete. The contingent flew on two different types of aircraft chartered from, appropriately enough, Pan American Airways: a Double-Decked "Strato" Clipper and the Panagra DC-6.
Several poster images were produced for the first Pan American Games. Each poster uses the flags of the participating nations as a design motif. The 1950 poster by Alfonsín portrays a theme of peace and friendship by featuring two clasped hands holding a graphically stylized olive branch over a grid map of the Americas. Behind the hands, the flags of the Pan American countries fly on nine poles with the flag of Argentina top and center. The Games logo, showing clasped hands holding a torch on a blue and white field, the colors of Argentina’s flag, sits in the upper right-hand corner of the poster.