The Fourth Brazilian Republic was the period of Brazilian history that began in 1945, with the end of the Vargas Era, and ended in 1964, with the Civil-Military Coup that began the period of the Military Dictatorship . During this period, Brazil had a great leap in economic and industrial growth, as well as rapid urbanization. However, existing social inequalities have also increased.
Presidents of this period
During the 21 years of the Fourth Republic period, Brazil had several presidents among those who were elected and those who took over, either due to the death of presidents or other impediments. The Brazilian presidents in the Fourth Republic were:
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Eurico Gaspar Dutra (1946-1951)
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Getúlio Vargas (1951-1954)
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Café Filho (1954-1955)
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Carlos Luz (1955)
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Nereu Ramos (1955-56)
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Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961)
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Jânio Quadros (1961)
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Ranieri Mazzilli (1961)
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João Goulart (1961-1964)
Presidential elections took place specifically in the years 1945 , 1950 , 1955 and 1960 . The elections that would be held in 1965 were prevented from taking place by the Military Junta, which took power from Brazil in 1964.
Politics and the 1946 Constitution
The frameworks of Brazilian politics in this period took shape from the Additional Act, decreed by Vargas at the beginning of 1945. By order of Vargas, the conditions were created for the formation of new political parties for Brazil, and the great Brazilian parties of this period emerged from 1945.
The three major parties that acted throughout the period of the Fourth Republic were:
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Union Democratic National (UDN):conservative-oriented party that had an extremely moralistic view of politics. They were extremely anti-Vargist and anti-communist. Throughout this period, they tried several times to seize power through coup measures that went against constitutional legality. A great representative of this party was Carlos Lacerda .
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Party Social Democratic (PSD):the PSD was a party that had emerged from the bureaucratic structure created by Getúlio Vargas during the Estado Novo. In addition to being created by the interventors who had been appointed by Vargas, the PSD had great electoral capacity. PSD cadres were extremely skilled in garnering votes and electing candidates, which made it the biggest party of the period. A great name of this party was Juscelino Kubitschek .
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Party Labor Brazilian (PTB):the PTB was created by Vargas himself as a continuation of his project to establish a policy of approximation with the masses, especially urban workers. Throughout the Fourth Republic, the PTB approached its policy to implement measures defended by the left. The great names of this party were Getúlio Vargas and John Goulart .
Furthermore, the Fourth Republic was under the guidelines of the Constitution of 1946 . This Constitution was drafted and promulgated shortly after the inauguration of the first elected president of that period, Eurico Gaspar Dutra. The 1946 Constitution brought some improvements, especially in democratic issues to Brazil, as it reestablished rights that had been suspended during the Vargas period and made it possible to increase the number of voters in Brazil.
The 1946 Constitution, however, created some obstacles in the analysis of historians, as it continued to excluding the illiterate to have access to the right to vote (they only gained this right with the 1988 Constitution), and rural workers continued to be excluded from the labor achievements that had brought improvements to the condition of urban workers. Finally, a clause in that Constitution (related to the issue of agrarian reform) created a political dispute that was at the heart of the crisis that hit the government of João Goulart.
Main events of each government
Eurico Gaspar Dutra , from the PSD/PTB ticket, was elected president of Brazil in 1945 after defeating the Udenist candidate, Eduardo Gomes. Dutra's government was marked by the application of two economic policies, first one liberal and the other characterized by the intervention of the State in the economy.
During his government, Dutra developed mechanisms that considerably restricted workers' right to strike. The great highlight of his government was its foreign policy. From 1947 onwards, the Dutra administration unconditionally aligned itself with US interests in the context of the Cold War and began to pursue workers' organizations and left-wing parties. The PCB, for example, was outlawed in 1947.
In 1950, Getúlio Vargas returned to the post of president of Brazil, this time in a democratic way. The second Vargas government was a troubled period of great political crisis, mainly due to the opposition that the government's political-economic project received and the high inflation.
In his second government, Vargas sought to implement a policy of nationalist development, which strongly displeased the opposition groups, represented mainly by the UDN and which were linked to international capital. One of the mottos of this project was the nationalization of oil exploration rights, which led to the creation of Petrobras .
The political crisis of the Vargas government was accentuated by the population's dissatisfaction with rising inflation and the cost of living, leading to strikes and demonstrations. The appointment of João Goulart to the Ministry of Labor caused the Vargas government to be accused by the opposition of being communist – which was false.
The crisis of that government reached an unbearable point when Carlos Lacerda, Vargas' main opponent and leader of the UDN, was attacked that resulted in the death of his bodyguard, a major aeronautics. The crisis that unfolded from this drove Vargas into isolation, until, on August 24, 1954, he committed suicide.
After Vargas' suicide, the political crisis in Brazil intensified and, in a period of 17 months, Brazil had a succession of three presidents:Café Son , Carlos Light and Nereus Ramos . The udenista opposition articulated to try to stop the 1955 elections, but the Minister of War, Henrique Teixeira Lott, carried out a counter-coup (known as the Preventive Coup) that guaranteed the inauguration of JK.
Juscelino Kubitschek , in turn, candidate of the PSD/PTB ticket, was elected president of Brazil by a narrow margin over the udenista candidate, Juarez Távora. During his government, JK imposed an intense project of economic modernization and industrialization from Brazil. Known as Plan from Goals, JK's project advocated prioritizing investments in some areas of the Brazilian economy.
JK has invested heavily in developing Brazil's road network and expanding the country's energy capacity. Another area that received heavy investment was port infrastructure. JK's project also included the installation of foreign industries in the country, which contributed to the generation of jobs.
The symbol of modernization advocated by this government was the construction of the new capital of Brazil , the city of Brasilia (officially opened in 1960). However, JK's high spending contributed to Brazil's indebtedness and rising inflation. Another extremely negative point was the low investment made in the area of education and food production, which created serious problems that erupted in the 1960s.
In 1960, the presidential elections decreed the victory, for the first time, of a Udenist candidate:Jânio Frames . His campaign was based on a moralistic speech, in which he claimed that he would cleanse Brazilian politics of all immorality. Jânio's government, however, was full of disastrous measures. .
His stance in the presidency caused several frictions with Congress to arise, including his own support base, formed by the UDN. In addition, Jânio took measures in the economy that led to an increase in the cost of living and peculiar measures that displeased the population (such as the ban on the use of bikini on the beaches).
It was his foreign policy, however, that put an end to all the support he had left. Jânio imposed a policy known as Independent Foreign Policy, in which the country realigned its relations with the US and opened the way for diplomatic negotiations with the Soviet bloc. This greatly displeased his conservative allies. Jânio, in isolation, resigned from the presidency in 1961.
The presidential succession was chaotic, as the army did not accept the inauguration of Jango (João Goulart), accusing him of being a communist. Brazil was on the brink of civil war when a political alternative was adopted:Jango assumed the presidency in a parliamentary regime .
Parliamentarism was short-lived and, in January 1963, Jango obtained his full presidential powers. From there, he proposed carrying out structural changes in the country that became known as Reforms from Base . These proposed changes in different areas of Brazil, and the negotiation for their implementation paralyzed the Jango government, especially on the issue of Agrarian Reform.
The opposition groups represented by the UDN began plotting a coup against João Goulart's government. As attrition mounted, PSD members migrated to the opposition. While all this was happening, the American government interfered in the direction of Brazilian politics, funding the elections of conservative politicians and institutions to organize a coup.
The realization of the Civil-Military Coup articulated the big business from Brazil (thus civilians), which was meeting at the Institute of Research and Social Studies (Ipes), with Armed Forces leaders, who had been planning for years to impose an authoritarian government in Brazil. The coup began with the rebellion of a group of the Armed Forces in Juiz de Fora, on March 31, 1964, and was consolidated on April 2, when Auro de Moura declared the post of president in Brazil vacant, which put an end to the democratic experiment of the Fourth Republic.
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