Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
JK and Brasília (1956-61)
Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-76) - “JK” to Brazilians - was president from 1956 to
1961, and proved just the man to fix Brazil's attention on the future rather than the
past. He combined energy and imagination with integrity and political skill, acquired
in the hard school of Minas Gerais, one of the main nurseries of political talent in
Brazil. “Fifty years in five!” was his election slogan, and his economic programme lived
up to its ambitious billing. His term saw a spurt in growth rates that was the platform
for the “economic miracle” of the next decade, and he left a permanent reminder of the
most successful post-war presidency in the form of the country's new capital, Brasília ,
deep in the Planalto Central.
It could so easily have been an expensive disaster: a purpose-built capital miles from
anywhere, the personal brainchild of a president anxious to make his mark. But
Kubitschek implanted the idea in the national imagination by portraying it as a renewed
statement of faith in the interior, a symbol of national integration and a better future for
all Brazilians, not just those in the South. He brought it off with great panache, bringing
in the extravagantly talented Lúcio Costa (1902-98) whose brief was to come up with a
revolutionary city layout, and the great architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) to design
the buildings to go with it. Kubitschek spent almost every weekend on the huge building
site that became the city, consulted on the smallest details, and had the satisfaction of
handing over to his successor, Jânio Quadros (1917-92), in the newly inaugurated capital.
The road to military rule
At the time, the military coup of 1964 was considered a temporary hiccup in Brazil's
post-war democracy, but it lasted 21 years and left a very bitter taste. The first period
of military rule saw the famous economic miracle , when the economy grew at an
astonishing average annual rate of ten percent for a decade, only to come to a juddering
halt after 1974. But most depressing was the effective end of democracy for over a
decade, and a time - from 1969 to 1974 - when terror was used against opponents by
military hardliners. It was the first time Brazilians experienced systematic brutality by a
government, and even in the years of economic success the military governments were
loathed across the political spectrum.
The coup was years in the brewing. It had two root causes: a constitutional crisis and
the deepening divides in Brazilian society. In the developed South relations between
trade unions and employers went from bad to worse, as workers struggled to protect
their wages against rising inflation. But it was in the Northeast that tension was greatest,
as a result of the Peasant Leagues movement. Despite industrial modernization, the
rural region was still stuck in a time-warped land-tenure system, moulded in the colonial
period and in many ways unchanged since then. Rural labourers, under the charismatic
leadership of Francisco Julião and the governor of Pernambuco, Miguel Arrães , began
forming cooperatives and occupying estates to press their claim for agrarian reform; the
estate owners cried communism and openly agitated for a military coup.
The presidency of João Goulart (1961-64)
The crisis might still have been avoided by a more skilful president, but Kubitschek's
immediate successors were not of his calibre. Quadros resigned after only six months,
1951
1953
1954
1956-61
Vargas elected
president
Petrobras - still the largest
company in Brazil and Latin
America - is founded; its oil
monopoly is revoked in 1997
Vargas commits suicide
after military tells him to
resign or be overthrown
Juscelino Kubitschek
is president
 
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