Brazilian History. I need sources

[downtown]

To graduate from my High school, I am required to write a senior thesis paper. I hope to write mine of Brazilian History. The time pierod that seems to interest me the most would be the most recent military dictatorship, its effects on the world, and the historical context that made that revolution possible, and defeated it. My mother, and her family fled to America shortly after the new regime. Id really like to gain a greater understanding about my Brazilian hertiage, and since my mother doesnt remember much, and My Grandparent's english isnt so good, (and neither is my portuguese), communication is limited.

So I need your help. If any of you know of some books I can purchase, or websites I can visit (IN ENGLISH, as I do not even really have newspaper literacy level yet in Portuguese. I hope to change that when I live there for a month in december/jan) covering these eras of Brazilian history.

Thanks so much in advance

 

[LLXerxes]

doesn't this belong in the WH forum?

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moderator Action: Moved to History.

 

[luiz]

To graduate from my High school, I am required to write a senior thesis paper. I hope to write mine of Brazilian History. The time pierod that seems to interest me the most would be the most recent military dictatorship, its effects on the world, and the historical context that made that revolution possible, and defeated it. My mother, and her family fled to America shortly after the new regime. Id really like to gain a greater understanding about my Brazilian hertiage, and since my mother doesnt remember much, and My Grandparent's english isnt so good, (and neither is my portuguese), communication is limited.

So I need your help. If any of you know of some books I can purchase, or websites I can visit (IN ENGLISH, as I do not even really have newspaper literacy level yet in Portuguese. I hope to change that when I live there for a month in december/jan) covering these eras of Brazilian history.

Thanks so much in advance

I can only name literature in Portuguses, but I can give you a bit of help regarding the subject.

The dictatorship can be divided in 3 periods. The liberal one, immediatly following the revolution of 1964, the toughest one, and the re-democratization proccess.

1-The government of Castello Branco (1964-1967)

Castello Branco himself was not an authoritarian, in fact he wanted to handle the government to a civilian, and he only took part in the revolution because he believed that Brazil was marching to a civil war under Goulart.
He made extremely succesful reforms on the economy, controlling inflation and laying the base for solid economic growth in the following decade.
He was constantly at odds with the hard-liners, and they eventually won the struggle, leading to the second phase of the dictatorship:

2-The Most Authoritarian Period

In 1966 the Electoral College, composed only of politicians authorised by the military command, elected Costa e Silva as the new president of the Republic. Costa e Silva was a hard-liner among the hard-liners, and it was during his term(1967-1969) that the most authoritarian acts took place. But the largest confrontations did not happen under his government, but rather under the government of his successor, Médici, who was elected by the EC in 1969(Actually there were 3 presidents between Costa e Silva and Médici: Aurélio Lyra, Augusto Rademaker and Márcio Mello. But the 3 of them did only last a few months, combing all their terms)

Médic's rule(1969-1974) is known as "Anos de Chumbo", and was the time of student demonstrations against the government followed by tough repression, as well as the organization of communist guerillas in the city and in the countryside to fight against the government. The most significant of those guerillas was the MR-8 (Revolutionary Movment 8 of October), that engaged in combat with the army in the middle of the jungles of Pará. All members of the MR-8 were either killed or arrested. The arrested ones were released a bit later in exchange for the american embassador who had beign kidnapped.
Following the "accidental" killings of two students, even the upper-class was growing increasingly disturbed with the authoritarianism of the government, and as such there was much pressure towards liberalization and re-democratization. This lead to the third and last period of the military government:

3- The "Slow and Safe" Re-democratization

Geisel was the president named to conduct the democratic reforms, in a "slow and safe" pace. During his term(1974-1979) the tougher Institutional Acts were abolished(most notoriously the AI-5). It was in this time that notorious brazilians returned from their exile, like Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and FHC(who would in 1994 become president).
Though today we know that Geisel was far from a democrat, and there is recorded proof that he approved torture. "This torture thing is a barbarity... but it is the only way". This tape was made public last year, and had major repercussions in the way historians look at Geisel.

Following Geisel there was the presidency of Figueiredo(1979-1985), the last military president. He finished the reforms Geisel started, and handed the power to the civilians in 1985.
In 1985 there were indirect elections, though this time the opposition was free to vote. The elected president was Tancredo Neves, leader of the opposition, who died before taking the presidency. His VP, Sarney, became president instead.

In 1989 there were the first dircet elections since 1960, and Fernando Collor defeated Lula(the current president).

Tomorrow I'll post about the Pre-Revolution context(the governments of Jânio Quadros and João Goulart).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in this thread or PM me.

 

[bigmeat]

To graduate from my High school, I am required to write a senior thesis paper. I hope to write mine of Brazilian History. The time pierod that seems to interest me the most would be the most recent military dictatorship, its effects on the world, and the historical context that made that revolution possible, and defeated it. My mother, and her family fled to America shortly after the new regime. Id really like to gain a greater understanding about my Brazilian hertiage, and since my mother doesnt remember much, and My Grandparent's english isnt so good, (and neither is my portuguese), communication is limited.

So I need your help. If any of you know of some books I can purchase, or websites I can visit (IN ENGLISH, as I do not even really have newspaper literacy level yet in Portuguese. I hope to change that when I live there for a month in december/jan) covering these eras of Brazilian history.

Thanks so much in advance

interview luiz, you'd get a sure A if you interviewed a real brazilian

 

[downtown]

I intend to while Im there. Id also like to try and visit a Brazilian university or large library and try to do research there as well. I cant exactly interview Luiz, since Im going to be several hundred miles from where he is I imagine.

Thanks so much. Ill PM some questions for you

 

[luiz]

The Context of the Revolution

In 1960, following the government of Juscelino Kubitschek(JK), Jânio Quadros was elected. Jânio was elected with a conservative campaign, focusing mainly on fighting the corruption that supposedly went rampant on the JK presidency.
He was supported by the National Democratic Union(UDN), the right-wing party (though he was not from the UDN, but rather from a tiny party that consisted basically of himself). His moralist promisses gained him the support of the brazilian middle-class, that at the time voted massively on the UDN.
Jânio also got considerable support from the poorer segments of society, mainly because he had the image of beign a "man of the people", a man with simple and spartan habits. Also, the poor used to dislike political parties, and they liked the fact that he was from an insignificant party.

And nobody was ready for what would be Jânio's presidency...

In a short time, he managed to get the hatred of both the right and the left. To fight inflation, he froze the salaries and cut government spending, what outraged the Left.
On the other hand, he broke-up Brazil's automatic alignment with the USA, resumed diplomatic relations with Communist China and the USSR, and awarded Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara with the Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul, the most important medal in Brazil. This outraged the right, and the USA.
And as if that was not enough, Jânio spent most of his time outlawing popular things in Brazil, like the use of bikinis on the beach(!!), horse racings during work-days and rooster fights.
The UDN was becoming increasingly angy with the President, and eventually wirthdrawed the support. As such, Jânio was left alone and was unable to pass bills.

So he sent a letter to the Congress resigning the presidency. But he had no intention of leaving the office. Jânio knew that his Vice-President, Jão Goulart(Jango), was a left-winger hated by the UDN and by the brazilian middle and upper classes. He thought that the Congress would not accept his resignation, and would grant him extra powers.
However he understimated the ammount of hatred he had attracted to himself. Congress accepted his resignation.

He was right in one point, though. Large sectors of the brazilian society did not want to let Jango take power. The country was in deep crisis, bordering on civil war. When Jango was Minister of Labour of the Vargas presidency, he gave minimum wage a rise of 100% and made alliances with the Communist Party. The right-wing never forgot that. To make things worse, when Jânio resigned Goulart was in China, visiting Mao.
At the same time, Jango's allies in the Southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, lead by the governor of that state, Leonel Brizola, were threatning to react in case the Congress decided that Jango would not become president.
The solution the Congress found was to let Jango take power, but with limited powers. So they made Brazil become a parlamentarist state.

Now the ruler would be the Prime-Minister, appointed by the president. But the Congress had to approve the PM, otherwise the president had to name another.
The first PM was Tancredo Neves, experienced politician. Tancredo however did not share Jango's leftists ideals: he visited the USA, bashed communism and seeked the support of the UDN. So Jango fired him.
The second PM Jango named was the conservative Moura Andrade. Why did he name a conservative? Simple. After the naming, all state companies went on a 24 hours strike, and there were big demonstrations against the new PM. Jango wanted to put pressure on the Congress to give him more powers (he wanted to make the point that parlamentarism did not work).
The third PM, Brochardo Rocha, was finally accepted by the Congress and the Unions. He, like Jango, was a leftist, and proposed a referendum in order to go back to presidentialism.
Jango was popular because he was seen as an heir of the populist Getúlio Vargas, and as such he won the referendum and in 1963 gained complete presidential powers.

As president, Jango wanted to push forward his agenda, focused on the Base Reforms.

The first Base Reform he tried to do was Land Reform. He wanted to take land from big farmers and give it to landless peasants. And he wanted to do that without giving any compensation. Needless to say, the Congress vetoed his proposal and he attracted massive hate from the farmers.

The second Base Reform was the Urban Reform, in which the state would controll the prices of rent of real state. This one got massive opposition from the upper and middle classes, who owned their households. (And economically speaking, this proposal is a catastrophe of epic proportions).

Also the reforms included much nationalist and protectionist BS, like keeping foreign companies out of most important economic sectors.

Brazil was split. On one side, the Unions and peasant leagues wanting more reforms. On the other side, the middle and upper classes wanting Jango gone. There were massive demonstrations both pro and anti the president. The military command also opposed Jango and what they believed to be a flirt with marxism.

And finally, there was the Auto-Clube incident. In a speech, Jango said that he was ready to break military ranks. In practice, this means Revolution. The military command could not accept to have it's power openly threatned, and as such, in the day 31 of Mars of 1964, troops from all over the country took by assault the major cities, with minimum resistence, and marched towards Brasília.

Tomorrow I'll post more about what happened during the Revolution(or Coup, as it is known today).