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itary. Its presidential candidate, Getúlio Vargas—whose elec-
tion was stolen through fraud—was able to assume office
thanks to a popular uprising.
Vargas went on to dominate Brazilian politics for the
next 24 years. He succeeded in modernizing the country both
politically and economically. Vargas’s second presidential
term was cut short by his suicide in 1954.
Vargas’s successor and protegé, Juscelino Kubitschek,
attempted to close the economic and social gaps between
Brazil’s rich and poor through fabulously expensive social
programs. He built Brasília, the new capital, which was sup-
posed to bring development to the vast interior of Brazil.
But by the early 1960s,
inflation
—a continuing rise in prices—battered the
economy and further eroded the standard of living of the nation’s poor. For
a time, it was feared that Brazil would turn to communism, inspired by Fidel
Castro’s victory in Cuba. That didn’t happen, but in 1964 Brazil’s fragile
democracy was squashed by a military coup.
The military would rule Brazil for the next two decades. During that
time, Brazil’s economy improved dramatically. By the late 1960s the country
was enjoying double-digit economic growth annually. Soon Brazil had
become one of the economic powerhouses of the Western Hemisphere,
helped by loans and investment from abroad. In 1985 the military handed
power back to a civilian government, and Brazilians elected their president
by popular vote for the first time in more than 20 years.
Despite Brazil’s remarkable success story, serious problems loomed. In the
A Legacy of Inequality 23
Getúlio Vargas