Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was a Brazilian 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. Located near Brazil's border with Argentina, the town of São Borja was a center of smuggling, political adventurism, and armed conflict, and Rio Grande do Sul was also known for an unusually violent history. The Vargas family reflected some of these characteristics. In 1919, 76 residents of São Borja complained to the state government about the Vargases' "coercive" actions, and in 1933, during Vargas's first presidency, two of his nephews were killed in a border clash.Vargas's mother Cândida was described as being "short and fat and pleasant" by her nephew Spártaco. Her side of the family came from the Azores and included some founders of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. Vargas's father Manuel was one of fourteen children, an honored military general for his service in the Paraguayan War, and a local Riograndense Republican Party leader. Manuel's family had a background in Azores and São Paulo. 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. Vargas and his friends were also influenced by the late politician Júlio de Castilhos, creating the Bloco Acadêmico Castilhista 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'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, and Getúlio. 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, "Getlio'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."