Getúlio Vargas
In the early hours of 24 August 1954, Alzira Vargas do Amaral Peixoto tiptoed into her dad’s bedroom. What she discovered was a bloody mess. Her father, Getulio Vargas - then President of Brazil, lay lifeless - his body icing the marble floor.
What on earth happened?
Early Life
Getúlio Vargas served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. He was born in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul. This area is close to Brazil's border with Argentina and was a hub of smuggling, money laundering and violent gunfights.
Rio Grande do Sul on the map of Brazil.
The Vargas family was deeply involved in these activities; one of Vargas's brothers was even accused of two assassinations.
A 12 year old Getulio Vargas. Image from Wikiwand.
Vargas was bullied as a kid; being given the nickname “xuxu'', basically meaning fattie. These kids clearly didn’t know who they were messing with. One of Vargas’s older brothers allegedly shot and killed a fellow student,leading to all the Vargas boys being expelled.
Vargas then enrolled at a military college, where after a student protest over lack of water, he and 20 other cadets were expelled.
He’d done enough to graduate though and later attended a fancy law school. I guess he re-branded because he finished as class valedictorian and generally had the respect of his peers.
Career
After graduating law school, Vargas took up a job as the Rio Grande do Sul state attorney general. His stellar academic record notwithstanding, it really helped that his father greased a few palms to get him the gig.
Man at work. Image from Wikipedia
This job became a pivotal part of Vargas’ political career. He established a reputation as a likeable and loyal civil servant. This saw him elected to the State Chamber of Deputies in 1909, in his mid-twenties.
How He Came To Power
By 1922 Vargas was an elected member of the National Congress. 4 years later, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the Cabinet of President Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, a job he would later leave to take up a role as State President of Rio Grande do Sul.
With the thirst for more power ravaging his system, Vargas ran for President of Brazil in 1930. He ran on a platform that's become very familiar in the last few weeks: ridding Brazil of the oligarchs that controlled most of the country’s trade and industry.
He lost.
Vargas seemed to accept defeat, but behind closed doors him and his friends were planning a revolution. In October of 1930 it went into full swing. Transport workers downed tools, citizens invaded government buildings and destroyed communication infrastructure. In Vargas’ home region, revolutionaries took control and eventually overthrew the oligarchical republic.
To avoid all out civil war, Vargas was appointed provisional President.
Vargas and his supporters after the 1930 revolution. Image from Wikipedia.
What was meant to be a temporary arrangement to get things under control became a 15 year tenure. The warning signs should have been clear when Vargas was given “unlimited power” under a state of emergency as his presidency began in November 1930. As expected, his first act was to throw his political opponents into jail. Vargas later dissolved state and municipal legislatures and the National Congress, and was the only person with authority to make government policy. He could also fire public officials at will. Which he did.
Personal Life
Vargas's personal life was equally interesting in this period. At the age of 28, he married 15 year-old Darci Lima Sarmanha. However, Vargas was about as faithful as a male dog in heat. By 1937, he’d given up any pretence and it became public knowledge that he had a side.
Things He Did
What he couldn’t do at home, he tried to do for the country: bring unity.
Before 1930 the Brazilian government was a federation of self-governing states. Vargas destroyed this system. He also expanded voting rights to quadruple the size of the electorate.
He also tightened the relationship between the church and the State and even unveiled the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer on 12 October 1931. In April of the same year, Vargas published a decree allowing religion to be taught in public schools. The irony was that Vargas himself didn’t even believe in God..
In 1934, Vargas was elected President via a new constitution, on condition that he couldn’t be re-elected after his first term.
In November 1935, a series of uprisings led Vargas to request the newly reformed Congress to once again instate a state of emergency. This would give the police and government at large extraordinary powers.
There was growing concern, however, that Vargas was going to use his emergency powers to stay on for longer than his allotted time. The rumour was that Vargas would effectively stage a coup against himself and keep power indefinitely.
For once, a conspiracy theory was true.
Vargas and his allies were unwilling to abandon power. In September 1937, senior military officers presented a forged document to Congress. This document, called the Cohen Plan, was allegedly a communist plot to overthrow the government. The army convinced Congress to declare a state of war to deal with the “threat”.
Vargas’ opponents were jailed or forced into exile and on 10 November 1937 Vargas proclaimed the Estado Novo (“New State”).
The New, Same Old Dispensation
Citizens “celebrate” the start of the Estado Novo. Image from conhecimentocientifico.com
Vargas continued to rule by decree, as he’d done before. And to be fair, he continued to do some good things for the country.
The Estado Nôvo enacted a minimum-wage and supported the establishment of samba schools and the Rio parades. And we are grateful. As a result of these initiatives, tourism increased and a national identity was entrenched.
That said, Vargas sought to protect the country from those who were deemed "un-Brazilian". These were basically Japanese and Jewish Brazilians. Additionally, was deemed by many as a mediocre statesman and opportunistic.
How He Lost Power
By 1945, after 15 years in power, the military started to fear that Vargas would try and grab absolute power. Well, duh. It’s not like that's what he’d done up to this point or anything. I guess the trigger was Vargas firing the National Chief of Police and replacing him with his brother.
The big guns forced Vargas to resign and deposed him on 29 October 1945.
However, it’s hard to keep a good man down. 5 years later, Vargas won the presidential election and was Head of State once again much to the chagrin of the military brass.
Once again, after another seemingly opportunistic move in which a key government official was fired, the military demanded Vargas resign. Vargas tried to save the situation but the generals weren’t having it.
Which brings us all back to the beginning.
On 24 August 1954 Vargas, unable to manage the situation, shot himself in the chest, effectively making the statement that he’d rather die in power than live without it.
A woman looks over the dead body of Getulio Vargas. Image from reddit.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Getulio-Vargas
https://historiapolitica.com/datos/biblioteca/muerte%20y%20politica_weinstein.pdf