São Borja, 1883 – Río de Janeiro (Brasil), 1954
By Emir Sader
The principal Brazilian statesman of the 20th century, Getúlio Vargas was born in Rio Grande do Sul, a border state in Brazil with Argentina and Uruguay. He built a career in both the military and politics, serving as governor of his home state from 1928 to 1930. When the effects of the 1929 global economic crisis toppled the government of Washington Luís, a representative of the coffee agro-exporters and the regime known as the “coffee with milk” policy (alternation of presidents from São Paulo and Minas Gerais), Vargas led a low-officiality movement that triumphed over the Old Republic and initiated two and a half decades of economic, social, and political transformations that changed the face of the country.
Assuming the presidency in the so-called Revolution of 1930, he pursued an economic policy of industrial development and recognition of workers’ union rights. He established ministries such as Labor and Social Security, and addressed middle-class demands by opening public competitions and encouraging consumer credit. He adopted a nationalist and populist discourse. He was re-elected president in 1934, and in 1937, reacting to a fascist insurrection attempt and political and military mobilizations by communists, he began to govern with dictatorial powers, inaugurating the Estado Novo regime.
Vargas founded Brazil’s first state-owned enterprises. Taking advantage of the turbulent global situation, he promoted an import substitution model, encouraging industrial and economic development in the country, with a strong state presence. In 1945, influenced by the fall of dictatorial regimes in Europe, to which Getúlio contributed by sending Brazilian troops to Italy at the end of World War II, he was overthrown by a coalition of liberals and conservatives. However, his Minister of War, Eurico Gaspar Dutra, won the elections in 1946.
Vargas returned to the presidency in 1950, elected by popular vote, supported by two parties he had founded: the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), on the left, and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), on the center-right.
During his second term, he instituted a state monopoly on oil and founded Petrobras. Facing accusations of corruption and violent attacks from the opposition, with the risk of being ousted from power once again, Vargas committed suicide on August 24, 1954, leaving a letter in which he blamed imperialism for the attacks on his government. With this extreme gesture, he triggered popular mobilizations that prevented a military coup and enabled the same coalition that supported him to elect Juscelino Kubitschek as president in 1955.
He left as his main political heirs João Goulart, his Minister of Labor, and Leonel Brizola.
