Getúlio Vargas

Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian military officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazil's provisional, constitutional, dictatorial and democratic leader, he is considered by historians as the most influential Brazilian politician of the 20th century.

Born on 19 April 1882 in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul, to a powerful local family, Vargas had a short stint in the Brazilian Army before entering law school. He began his political career as district attorney, soon becoming a state deputy prior to a brief departure from politics. After returning to the state Legislative Assembly, Vargas led troops during Rio Grande do Sul's 1923 civil war. He entered national politics as a member of the Chamber of Deputies. Afterward, Vargas served as Minister of Finance under president Washington Luís before resigning to head Rio Grande do Sul as state president, during which he had an active tenure and introduced many policies.

In 1930, after losing the presidential election, Vargas rose to power under a provisional presidency following an armed revolution, remaining until 1934 when he was elected president under a new constitution. Three years later he seized powers under the pretext of a potential communist insurrection, beginning the eight-year long Estado Novo dictatorship. In 1942, he led Brazil into World War II on the side of the Allies after being sandwiched between Nazi Germany and the United States. Though there was notable opposition to his government, the major revolts – the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution in his provisional government, the Communist uprising of 1935 in his constitutional presidency, and the Brazilian Integralist Action's putsch in his dictatorship – were all successfully suppressed; the methods Vargas used in quelling his opposition ranged from light peace terms to jailing political opponents.

Ousted in 1945 after fifteen years in power, Vargas returned to the presidency democratically after winning the 1950 Brazilian general election. However, a growing political crisis led to his suicide in 1954, prematurely ending his second presidency.

Early life Family background and childhood

Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was born in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul, on 19 April 1882, the third of five sons born to Manuel do Nascimento Vargas and Cândida Dornelles Vargas. During the Federalist Revolution, Cândida's side of the family became maragatos, or federalists, while Manuel's side fought on the chimango, or republican, side. Their marriage brought together the two warring factions in the region.

Vargas had a happy childhood thanks to the respect his mother received from the town due to her position between the two political factions. Vargas studied at a private primary school in São Borja run by Francisco Braga. He did not finish, however, for Vargas was sent to the Ouro Preto Preparatory School in Minas Gerais. The invitation was at the request of his brothers, and Vargas traveled by boat from Buenos Aires in Argentina, rushing as quickly as possible overland due to a yellow fever outbreak in Rio de Janeiro. At the school, Vargas was the subject of hostility by his fellow cadets, taunted with the nickname xuxu, or chayote, for his height and "round shape". Vargas and his elder brothers were forced out of the school after Vargas's brother Viriato, with the aid of his brother Protasio, shot fellow cadet Carlos Prado to death.

Military career and law school

Like his father, Vargas embarked on a military career. He joined the army in 1898 despite his father's protests, enlisting as a private in the 6th Infantry Battalion for one year. In 1899, he was promoted to sergeant. He also joined the military college at Rio Pardo and studied there until 1901. However, Vargas and twenty other cadets were forced to leave when they joined in a protest over lack of water. Only some time later did an amnesty allow him and the others to return. Still having time to serve, Vargas was then transferred to Porto Alegre and joined the 25th Infantry Battalion.

He tried leaving to enroll in law school, but his discharge was delayed due to a medical examination that was required. Coincidentally, Vargas was sent to Corumbá in what was then Mato Grosso before his examination was conducted when a border crisis broke out between Bolivia and Brazil in February 1903. The disillusioned Vargas did not have to fight as the dispute was settled before he arrived, later saying that living under difficult conditions allowed him to learn to judge others, though he was disappointed from being kept idle and non-combatant. He asked for a discharge once again, and was able to obtain paperwork falsely stating he had had epilepsy.

Vargas was admitted to the law school at Porto Alegre and adapted easily to the elitist climate among students. He became active in the students' republican faction and served as an editor and profile writer for the school's newspaper, O Debate (The Debate). Vargas and his friends were also influenced by the late politician Júlio de Castilhos, creating the Bloco Acadêmico Castilhista (Castilho's Academic Block) to keep his ideas alive after his death.

During his time at the school, Vargas was appointed the valedictorian of his class and stayed in a series of fraternity-like boarding houses, in one of which he made connections with future president and collaborator Eurico Gaspar Dutra. Vargas also spoke to visiting president Afonso Pena as a student representative in August 1906, saying, "We are today simply spectators of the present, but we will be judges of the future… Democracy is the common aspiration of civilied peoples as to their political system, but only with education can we have a people truly capable of democratic government." Vargas graduated in 1907.

Early career

Attorney and state deputy Entering politics in the Republican Party of Rio Grande do Sul, Vargas had two options after graduating from law school: He could either accept an instructorship position in the school he had just graduated from, or he could become the state attorney. Vargas chose the latter, a position that was secured by his father, and he was named the Rio Grande do Sul state attorney general by his party. While it was very apparent that Vargas received the position due to his political connections, he remained as state attorney until 1908.

Vargas would gain valuable experience as state attorney, and, after building himself a reputation for loyalty and brightness, was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul in 1909. Though he was only in his twenties, he still managed to make himself known for the ability to temporize and became well-liked. However, the Legislative Assembly only convened for two months in a year and pay was allotted, meaning that Vargas needed to find other income sources. This was partially because of the downgraded importance of state legislators in Rio Grande do Sul in sharp contrast to other states. Believing São Borja could not support more than one advocate's office, Vargas began his legal career as a promotor, or a public prosecutor, in Porto Alegre. Vargas's first case dealt with rape, one which he settled privately by convincing both parties to marry.

Personal life and interim Vargas and his wife Darci in June 1911, a few months after they married. Vargas's vocation as a prosecutor did not last long, for he married fifteen-year-old Darci Lima Sarmanho, a woman thirteen years younger than himself, in March 1911. They would remain together for forty-three years until Vargas died in 1954. She was the daughter of Antonio Sarmanho, a merchant, farmer, and one of Manuel's closest friends, and was orphaned at age fourteen. According to historian Robert M. Levine, Darci stayed in the background for most of Vargas's life and looked after the family's households. She also devoted herself to public charity causes later in their lives when Vargas would become president.

They had five children together: Lutero, Jandira, Alzira, Manuel (also known as Maneco), and Getúlio (also known as Getulinho). Alzira would go on to become a law school graduate and became Vargas's favorite. However, Vargas was an unfaithful husband, often participating in sexual dalliances. He took a mistress in 1937 and become devoted to her; this was later confirmed by his diaries published fifty years after his death in 2004. It is believed the mistress was Aimée de Soto-Maior, later Aimée de Heeren, recognized by the international fashion press as one of the world's most glamorous and beautiful women. Heeren neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.

Manuel gave Vargas some land near his own, and money to set up a home and legal practice in São Borja. The combination of a political and legal profession was common in Latin America. Vargas was now a conciliator and advisor, taking on many cases dealing with a social factor, an experience that can be considered a component of his later social reform. Between 1913 and 1917, Vargas's political career ceased, however. While the second term of president Borges de Medeiros was underway, Vargas fell out with the state president at the end of 1912. Commenting on his resignation speech to the Assembly, historian Richard Bourne states, "Get[ú]lio's departure was marked with finesse: he made just enough noise to indicate to the gaucho boss that he was not to be treated lightly, and not such a dramatic ruction as to make a later composition impossible."

Political rise

Return as a legislator and the 1923 civil war Medeiros still needed the powerful Vargases' support, however. Near the end of 1916, Vargas refused an offer from Medeiros to become the state's police chief, opting instead to successfully run for reelection as a state deputy and would remain for two terms. Throughout his renewed tenure, he was, satirically, described as the "mathematician of the party" and named party (or majority) leader. While tasked with the crucial responsibility of ensuring the reelection of Medeiros, Vargas was also chairman of an Assembly commission dedicated to verifying election results for the state presidency, or, as his opposition put it, partaking in electoral fraud. In the latter part of his term, Vargas was in charge of leading and reporting the budget.

During the 1923 civil war in Rio Grande do Sul, Vargas was called upon to lead a military unit with Republicans. He would organize the Seventh Provisional Division, and, when Republicans Oswaldo Aranha and José Antonio Flores da Cunha were under siege by Liberationists, led two-hundred-fifty provisórios as lieutenant colonel, marching one hundred miles at night to Uruguaiana to "defend the ideas of his party". Halfway there at Itaqui, he found the railway cut and an absence of mounts for his horsemen. According to Aranha's brother Adalberto, Vargas was persistent, decisive, and speedy throughout the crisis. He ordered his forces out of the town and the embarkation of his troops on requisitioned river barges. Vargas also ignored low water warnings to save the detrimental situation the Republicans had gotten themselves into. He said, "I will send them all to arrive there in time. Only the impossible will deter me from coming to the help of my comrades."

Before he could command any real action, president Medeiros messaged Vargas to hand over the military as he had been named federal deputy, a vacant seat he ran for in 1922, and deputies could only command troops with the permission of the National Congress. Vargas turned his command over to his cousin Deoclecio Dorneles Motta, immediately departed for Rio de Janeiro, and now held a far more important task – restoring the power of Rio Grande do Sul in federal politics.

National politics President Washington Luís with members of his cabinet in 1926. Vargas, Minister of Finance, can be seen in the second row, first from left. In May 1923, Vargas became a national deputy, becoming Medeiros' "man of confidence" during a troubling period. His objective was to diminish federal intervention in the state civil war and gave a speech stating the state government had the situation under control. In reality, there was doubt this statement was true and Medeiros had had to raise private loans in Uruguay to pay for war expenses. Vargas also had to lead his bloc of Rio Grande do Sul congressmen, demoralized after an editorial appeared in Porto Alegre calling for the acceptance of the incoming Artur Bernardes administration. In 1924, Vargas became the official leader of the Rio Grande do Sul congressional delegation, the same year he was forced to take his daughter Alzira out of school in November after a warship opened fire on Rio de Janeiro as part of the tenente rebellions. According to Levine, Vargas' "most noteworthy achievement as a congressman came in 1925, when as a member of a commission studying constitutional reform he advocated greater government authority."

With the knowledge that a São Paulo native would succeed Bernardes, Vargas cultivated the São Paulo delegation during Bernardes' presidency. When Washington Luís was elected president in 1926, he chose Vargas to become his Minister of Finance. This was despite the fact Vargas had virtually no fiscal experience, even going as far as to deny joining a finance committee when he was in Congress. The appointment was based on gratitude toward Medeiros for helping him become president and a political deal as part of the many cabinet positions divided amongst important states.

Though the economy was prosperous from 1926 to 1928, it was entirely based upon coffee. Within a month, Vargas had submitted a money reform bill to the National Congress, similar to the French Poincaré, with the objective of stabilizing the value of the Brazilian currency. It saw initial success before collapsing in the wake of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Vargas introduced a tax on consumption with the purpose of undermining the country's dependency on customs revenues. He would also hold audiences where up to a hundred people could submit their petitions, requests, and complaints, ranging from ordinary citizens to congressmen. Although Vargas only served two years as Finance Minister before returning to Rio Grande do Sul to become the president (governor) in 1928, he gained valuable recognition and experience on a national level.

This revolution, known as the Revolution of 1930, began on 3 October. Railway workers went on strike. In Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, citizens invaded government buildings, seized an arsenal, and wrecked a telephone station. Revolutionaries quickly took control of the Northeast, and a large military confrontation in São Paulo seemed imminent. This, however, never happened, as Luís resigned on 24 October 1930, at the urging of both the military and Cardinal Dom Sebastião Leme. A short-lived junta of Brazil's military leaders took charge of the government.

Revolutionary leaders, surprised at the ousting of the president, were concerned as it had been done without previous notice to the revolutionaries. Vargas went by train to São Paulo and continued toward Rio de Janeiro (then the nation's capital), and telegraphed to the junta on 24 October 1930:

Vargas arrived in Rio de Janeiro in a uniform and wide-brimmed pampa hat, with 3,000 soldiers in the city in preparation of his arrival. The junta withdrew from power and installed Vargas as "interim president" on 3 November 1930.

Provisional and constitutional governments (1930–1937)

Establishment of the Provisional Government

Vargas's provisional presidency began on 3 November 1930, when he assumed "unlimited power" from the provisional government in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1930, and gave a speech detailing a 17-point program. He imprisoned his prominent political opponents, and instead of taking the "constitutional solution", where Vargas would act within the boundaries of the 1891 constitution and he would be declared victor of the 1930 election, Vargas chose the "revolutionary solution" and assumed emergency powers with a provisional government as he had told Aranha from Ponta Grossa. Even amongst the poorest of Brazilians, Vargas had brought hope to them, something which drove him to oblige to his goals. For now, the Brazilian people lived under a regime lacking political parties and one which governed by decree, which they accepted. Vargas also held sympathies for a corporatist state. Through his provisional government, it was apparent that Vargas was attempting to centralize his power. After dissolving state and municipal legislatures as well as the National Congress, Vargas assumed all policymaking power of the legislative and executive branches and the ability to name and dismiss public officials at will, though the judiciary branch was allowed to remain with modification on all levels of government. Ensuring his support, Vargas also named federal "intervenors" to administer the Brazilian states and replace presidents (governors), with the only exception being Minas Gerais, where the president was allowed to remain as intervenor. Nearly all these actions were perscribed in a single decree on 11 November 1930.

Coffee policy Vargas sips coffee on a commemorative postcard of an exhibition of the National Coffee Department. This was taken much later in his first presidency (1942).Since the beginning of the Great Depression, there was no longer any demand for Brazil's agricultural production. Planters found financial ruin, unemployment in cities grew, foreign revenue declined, and convertible money was no longer in circulation. For instance, the price of coffee was 22.5 cents per pound in 1929, but this plummeted to a mere eight cents in 1931. Though Vargas promoted the diversification of agriculture, especially with cotton, he also recognized that he could not abandon the coffee sector, which Brazil was highly dependent upon. Therefore, the Vargas government took measures to address the sector's financial ruin. On 10 February 1933, Vargas created the National Coffee Department (DNC) , and in March 1931, Vargas issued a decree which barred imports of machinery for industries suffering from overproduction.

Still, Vargas's government was faced with a major problem: Large stocks of coffee had no demand on the international market. In July 1931, the government, using the money it received via export taxes and exchange taxes, would purchase excess coffee and destroy some of it. Doing such, the price of coffee would be sustained and the supply would be reduced. The plan lasted many years, only ending in 1944. By that point, Vargas's government had destroyed 78,200,000 sacks of coffee, equivalent to the world's consumption for three years.

Labor policy According to historians Boris and Sergio Fausto, "One of the more coherent aspects of the Vargas administration was its labor policy. Between 1930 and 1945, it passed through several stages, but from the beginning it appeared as innovative as far as what preceded it was concerned. Its main objectives were to repress efforts of the urban working class to organize outside the aegis of the state and to incorporate the working class into the government's array of supporters." To achieve these goals, Vargas, notably, created the Ministry of Labor, Industry, and Commerce in November 1930, nominating Lindolfo Collor as the first Minister of Labor. Laws were passed to protect workers, a March 1931 decree brought unions into line, and Vargas's government established the Bureaus of Reconciliation and Arbitration to mediate worker-boss affairs. To protect the rights of Brazilian workers, the government limited immigration and required that at least two-thirds of all workers at any given factory be Brazilian. The president gained considerable support from organized labor with his government beginning construction on long-promised workers' housing in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, despite it being under par compared to the needs of the growing population. He also began taking repressive measures toward leftist organizations in respect to the economy, particularly the Brazilian Communist Party.thumb A Brazilian factory in 1938, during Vargas's dictatorshipThe economic regulations Vargas imposed, however, were still being circumvented as late as 1941. While it was impossible for the minimum wage laws to be evaded by large businesses or in large towns, the minimum rural salary of 1943 was, in many cases, simply not abided by employers. In fact, many social policies never extended to rural areas. While each state varied, social legislation was enforced less by the government and more by the good will of employers and officials in the remote regions of Brazil.

Vargas's legislation did more for the industrial workers than for the more numerous agricultural workers, despite the fact that only relatively few industrial workers joined the unions that the government encouraged. The state-run social security system was inefficient and the Institute for Retirement and Social Welfare produced few results. The popular backlash due to these shortcomings was evidenced by the rising popularity of the National Liberation Alliance, a leftist front, in 1935. Moreover, the Faustos state that, "The nation's financial situation became untenable halfway through 1931." Payments on Brazil's foreign debt ceased in September of the same year, and the Bank of Brazil had once more been granted sole permission to exchange currency, a measure that had originally been put in place by president Luís's government yet repealed by Vargas's provisional government.

Religion and education Brazil had had a close cooperation between the Church and state by the time Vargas assumed power. The collaboration began mostly in the 1920s under the administration of Artur Bernardes. Vargas now made the relationship much closer, evident in the unveiling of the statue of Christ the Redeemer on 12 October 1931. Vargas and his ministers were present at the unveiling, and Cardinal Leme, who was influential in the ousting of president Luís, declared Brazil as "the most holy heart of Jesus, whom it recognized as its King and Lord."

Vargas's government took special measures in favor of the church, and the church received support for the new government from the majority of Brazil's Catholics. In April 1931, a decree allowed religion to be taught in public schools. This was all despite the fact that Vargas was firmly agnostic (though Darci practiced Roman Catholicism), going as far as to name his first son Lutero, an un-Catholic name. His purpose for the union between the church and state was to build popular support for his government through the channeling of religious feelings toward the state, though. After a rebellion broke out in Recife in May 1931, Aranha and General Leite de Castro presented Vargas with a decree which would declare martial law for mutinies. Vargas told them to redraft it, and Aranha told Vargas's secretary, "This Getúlio has a passive resistance that is enervating." While Vargas increased his support with senior army officers, bloody riots broke out in Recife in October 1931. In February 1932, the Democratic Party of São Paulo joined forces with Republicans in a united front against Vargas. There was even a front in Vargas's home state of Rio Grande do Sul, pushing for a seven-point program, the instant restoration of individuals' rights, the guarantee of freedom of the press, and the election of a constituent assembly. At this point, some foreign diplomats had much doubt Vargas had any control of events, observing the division between revolutionary leaders and unrest in the country.

The painful transition between regimes was most evident in the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution, a three-month long civil war in Brazil (9 July–2 October 1932) which pitted São Paulo, now suffering as their interests and pride were lost, against the federal government in the name of a free constitution. He accepted the senate seat for Rio Grande, but effectively went into semiretirement. He won the election and took office on 31 January 1951.

Second presidency (1951–1954)

When he left the Estado Novo presidency, the economic surplus of Brazil was high and the industry was growing. After four years, however, pro-U.S. president Dutra wasted huge quantities of money protecting foreign investments, mostly North American, and distanced himself from the ideas of nationalism and the country's modernisation championed by Vargas. Vargas returned to politics in 1951, and, through a free and secret ballot, was re-elected president of the Republic. Hampered by the economic crisis largely engendered by Dutra's policies, Vargas pursued a nationalist policy, turning to the country's own natural resources and away from foreign dependency. As part of this policy, he founded Petrobras (Brazilian Petroleum), a multinational petroleum consortium, with the Government of Brazil as its majority stakeholder.

Death Vargas' political adversaries initiated a crisis which culminated in the murder of an Air Force officer, Major Rubens Vaz, killed during an assassination attempt in the street outside 180 Rua Tonelero, the home of Vargas' main adversary, publishing executive and politician, Carlos Lacerda. Lieutenant Gregório Fortunato, chief of Vargas' personal guard, nicknamed "Black Angel", was implicated in the crime. This aroused anger in the military against Vargas, with generals demanding his resignation. In a last-ditch effort, Vargas called a special cabinet meeting on the evening of Tuesday, 24 August, but rumours spread that army officers were implacable.

Unable to manage the situation, Vargas shot himself in the chest with a revolver at 8:45 BRT on 24 August 1954, in his third-floor bedroom of his official residence of Catete Palace.

His suicide note was found and read out on radio within two hours of his son discovering the body. The famous last lines read, "Serenely, I take my first step on the road to eternity. I leave life to enter History." Having fought against the influence of the elite, Vargas guided Brazil through the Great Depression, and he was nicknamed "the Father of the Poor" for his economic reform. One of Vargas' enduring political legacies is the campaign to nationalize Brazilian oil reserves. The Estado Novo's labor laws are often described through revisionist lenses, with President Lula recalling that he believed they were influenced by Italian Fascist Carta del Lavoro.