1938 in Brazil

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Getúlio Vargas

Governors

• Alagoas: Osman Laurel
• Amazonas: Álvaro Botelho Maia
• Bahia: Antônio Fernandes Dantas then Landulfo Alves
• Ceará: Francisco de Meneses Pimentel
• Espírito Santo: João Punaro Bley
• Goiás: Pedro Ludovico Teixeira
• Maranhão:
• Mato Grosso: Júlio Strübing Müller
• Minas Gerais: Benedito Valadares Ribeiro
• Pará: José Carneiro da Gama Malcher
• Paraíba: Argemiro de Figueiredo
• Paraná: Manuel Ribas
• Pernambuco: Agamenon Magalhães
• Piauí: Leônidas Melo
• Rio Grande do Norte: Rafael Fernandes Gurjão
• Rio Grande do Sul:
• * till 19 January: Manuel de Cerqueira Daltro Filho
• * 19 January-4 March: Joaquim Maurício Cardoso
• * from 4 March: Osvaldo Cordeiro de Farias
• Santa Catarina: Nereu Ramos
• São Paulo:
• * till 25 April: José Joaquim Cardoso de Melo Neto
• * 25 April-27 April: Francisco José da Silva Júnior
• * from 27 April: Ademar de Barros
• Sergipe: Erônides de Carvalho

Vice governors

• Rio Grande do Norte: no vice governor
• São Paulo: no vice governor

Events

• 2 January - The governmental radio program Hora do Brasil begins to be broadcast throughout the country.
• 3 January - The presidential election is not held due to Getúlio Vargas' coup d'état.
• May – The Brazilian integralist movement attempt a coup d'état, supported by the Axis powers. The failure of the "Pajama Putsch" leads to the dissolution of the AIB.
• 28 July – Folk hero Lampião and his band are ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angicos farm, in the state of Sergipe.
• date unknown
• *Michel Bernanos visits Brazil for the first time.
• *Mário de Andrade takes up a post at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

Arts and culture

Films

• Alma e Corpo de uma Raça
• Aruanã
• Maridinho de Luxo
• ''Tererê Não Resolve''

Births

January

• 16 January: Jô Soares, comedian and talk show host
• 27 January: Raul Gil, television presenter and singer

April

June

• 6 June: Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, pretender to the Brazilian throne

July

• 23 July: Menalton Braff, novelist and short story writer
• 25 July: Sérgio Ferro, painter

August

• 18 August: Orestes Quércia, politician

November

• 5 November: Enéas Carneiro, politician
• 25 November: Luiz Henrique Rosa, musician and soccer player

Deaths

• 28 July:
• *Lampião, bandit
• *Maria Bonita, bandit