João Goulart

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**João Belchior Marques Goulart**
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Term of office:	September 7, 1961–April 1, 1964
Predecessor:	Jânio Quadros
Successor:	Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli
Date of birth:	March 1, 1918
Place of birth:	São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul
Date of death:	December 6, 1976
Place of death:	Mercedes, Argentina
Party:	Brazilian Labour Party - PTB

João Belchior Marques Goulart (March 1, 1918—December 6, 1976) was the last left-wing president of Brazil (1961–March 31, 1964) until the October 6, 2002 election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The name Goulart is of Azorean-Portuguese origin.

A former estancieiro (farmer with huge properties of land), Goulart (nicknamed "Jango") studied law in Porto Alegre. He was elected to the Rio Grande do Sul state legislature in 1946 with the Brazilian Labor Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB). He later served as minister of justice and the interior. In 1953 he was appointed by President Getúlio Vargas as minister of labour, industry, and commerce. Despite being rich, Goulart was very popular among lower classes and made connections with labour unions. Vargas took advantage of that just when the left wing sectors were deviating from his government. As minister of labour, Goulart proposed an increase of 100% in minimum wages.

In 1956, Jango was elected Vice President, as the running mate of President Juscelino Kubitschek. Goulart was again elected Vice President in 1960. This time, however, the president was Jânio Quadros, a member of a different party. (At the time, Brazilians could vote for a ticket that had candidates for president and vice president from different parties.) Quadros resigned in 1961. According to some chroniclers, this was an attempt to promote a coup d'etat. After this alleged coup failed, Goulart assumed the presidency after a ten-day-long crisis.

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The Goulart administration

Congress was reluctant to give Goulart the mandate because of military opposition to his left-wing tendencies. As a compromise solution, Brazil adopted a parliamentary system of government. After two years of unstable governments, parliamentarism was overwhelmingly rejected in a plebiscite in 1963 and Goulart regained the lost authority.

The Goulart years were marked by nationalist reforms, closer ties to leftist political groups, and conflict with conservative sectors of society. He signed decrees expropriating oil refineries and uncultivated land owned by foreign companies. When he attempted to gain extraordinary powers to accelerate reforms, he was accused of attempting to set up a leftist dictatorship.

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The military overthrow of Goulart

The 1964 Revolution overthrew Goulart. The main figures were Gen. Olímpio Mourão Filho, Gen. Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco and Minas Gerais' governor Magalhães Pinto. The coup installed successive right-wing hardliners as heads of state who suspended several rights and liberties of the Brazilian people. They abolished all political parties and replaced them with only two, the military government's party called the "National Renewal Alliance Party" (ARENA) and the opposition's "Brazilian Democratic Movement" (MDB). It is claimed that the MDB had no real power, and that the military rule was marked by the widespread disappearance, torture, and exile of many politicians, university students, writers, singers, painters, filmmakers and other artists.

The military blamed Goulart for the high inflation that had begun to occur under his predecessor's tenure, and that his plans to redistribute wealth to resolve the country's economic crisis were part of a Communist attempt on Goulart's part to establish himself as dictator. Also, members of congress resented their loss of power and also resented the pressure Goulart put on them on some occasions (like the "Comício das Reformas", Rally of reforms).

The coup was described as a "democratic rebellion" by the U.S. ambassador, despite its authoritarian and violent characteristics. He also deemed Brazil the "China of the 1960s." Recently declassified CIA documents provide evidence that not only was there U.S. knowledge of the coup even prior to its occurrence, but also the U.S. positioned military ships off the coast of Brazil ready to engage in the coup if the Brazilian military found itself in need of support.[1] [2]

Jango Goulart fled to Rio Grande do Sul and tried to resist the coup, but was soon declared out of the presidency by senator Auro de Moura Andrade, and exiled in Uruguay. In Montevideo, the former president of Brazil was hesitant to take part in political acts relating to Brazil. He became an administrator of agricultural business. In 1973 Goulart participated in Argentine foreign affairs as a consultant. João Goulart died in Mercedes, Argentina, 1976.

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