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List of Presidents of Brazil |
See also: List of Brazilian monarchs
| Brazil |
 This article is part of the series: |
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General
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Other countries · Atlas Politics portal |
This is a list of Presidents of Brazil.
Contents |
In 1889 the Republic was proclaimed in a coup d'etát led by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, who deposed the Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II and formed a provisional government. Two years later, in 1891, a constitution was written, based on the federal republic of the United States of America and the country itself was named the Republic of the United States of Brazil. Deodoro was elected constitutional president by the Constituent Congress in the same year, immediately after the promulgation of the Constitution, but resigned ten months later after a coup d'étát in which he dissolved Congress was reversed. Then, Floriano Peixoto, Deodoro's vice-president and an opponent of the coup, was inaugurated. Peixoto was succeeded by the first elected president in Brazil, Prudente de Morais.
Although it was theoretically a constitutional democracy, the Old Republic was characterized by the power of regional oligarchies and the strict alternation of power between the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. The vote in the countryside was often controlled by the local land owner, and less than 6% of the population had the right to vote due to literacy requirements. Also, only wealthy individuals could vote or stand for election.
In 1930, when Brazil was suffering the effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a revolution broke out in the country and the old republic ended. The president Washington Luís, who was supported by São Paulo oligarchies, broke the rule of alternation between São Paulo and Minas and supported a candidate who was also from São Paulo, Júlio Prestes. Prestes won the election, but Washington Luís was deposed three weeks before the end of his term and Prestes was never inaugurated.
| President | Picture | Took office | Left office | Vice President(s) | Political Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augusto Fragoso |  |
October 24, 1930 | November 3, 1930 | vacant | Military |
| Mena Barreto |  |
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| Isaías de Noronha |  |
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| Getúlio Vargas (1st time) |  |
November 3, 1930 | October 29, 1945 | vacant2 | Non-party |
| José Linhares |  |
October 29, 1945 | January 31, 1946 | vacant | Non-party |
In 1945, Vargas was deposed by a military coup led by two ex-supporters. Nevertheless, he would be elected president once again and his influence in Brazilian politics would remain until the end of the second republic. In this period, three parties dominated the national politics. Two were pro-Vargas – in the left, PTB and in the center-right, PSD – and another anti-Vargas, the rightist UDN.
This period was very unstable. In 1954, Vargas committed suicide during a crisis that threatened his government and he was followed by a series of short-term presidents. In 1961, UDN elected the party's first president, Jânio Quadros, who resigned seven months later. In that time, the president and the vice-president were voted separately. The vice-president was a political enemy of Jânio Quadros, the leftist João Goulart. A brief crisis had taken place, and the solution was a parliamentarism system, in which Goulart was inaugurated with reduced powers. A plebiscite in 1963 restored presidentialism and a military coup deposed Goulart in 1964, starting the military dictatorship.
| President | Picture | Took office | Left office | Vice President(s) | Political Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaspar Dutra |  |
January 31, 1946 | January 31, 1951 | Nereu Ramos | Military/Social Democratic Party |
| Getúlio Vargas (2nd time) | |
January 31, 1951 | August 24, 19543 | Café Filho | Brazilian Labour Party |
| Café Filho |  |
August 24, 1954 | November 9, 19554 | vacant | Brazilian Labour Party |
| Carlos Luz |  |
November 9, 1955 | November 11, 1955 | vacant | Social Democratic Party |
| Nereu Ramos |  |
November 11, 1955 | January 31, 1956 | vacant | Social Democratic Party |
| Juscelino Kubitschek |  |
January 31, 1956 | January 31, 1961 | João Goulart | Social Democratic Party |
| Jânio Quadros |  |
January 31, 1961 | August 25, 19615 | João Goulart | Non-party |
| Ranieri Mazzilli (1st time, acting) |  |
August 25, 1961 | September 7, 1961 | vacant | Social Democratic Party |
| João Goulart |  |
September 7, 1961 | April 1, 1964 | vacant | Brazilian Labour Party |
| President | Picture | Took office | Left office | Vice President(s) | Political Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranieri Mazzilli (2nd time, acting) | |
April 2, 1964 | April 15, 1964 | vacant | Social Democratic Party |
| Castelo Branco |  |
April 15, 1964 | March 15, 1967 | José Maria Alckmin | Military |
| Costa e Silva |  |
March 15, 1967 | August 31, 1969 | Pedro Aleixo | Military |
| Augusto Rademaker |  |
August 31, 1969 | October 30, 1969 | vacant | Military |
| Aurélio de Lira | |||||
| Márcio Melo | |||||
| Emilio Medici |  |
October 30, 1969 | March 15, 1974 | Augusto Rademaker | Military/National Renewal Alliance Party |
| Ernesto Geisel |  |
March 15, 1974 | March 15, 1979 | Adalberto Pereira dos Santos | Military/National Renewal Alliance Party |
| João Figueiredo |  |
March 15, 1979 | March 15, 1985 | Aureliano Chaves | Military/National Renewal Alliance Party |
In the early eighties the military government started a process of gradual political opening, called abertura, the final goal of which was the democracy. When the term of the last military president ended, however, no direct elections for president was taken.
Tancredo Neves, who had been prime-minister during the presidency of João Goulart, was chosen to be the candidate of PMDB, the major opposition party, but he was also supported by a large political spectrum, even including a significant part of the ARENA, the party that supported the military presidents. Tancredo was elected by the Electoral College, but died before he could be inaugutarated. The first civilian president since 1964 was Tancredo's running mate, José Sarney, himself an ex-member of ARENA. In 1988, a new democratic Constitution was passed, and democracy was consolidated.
In 1989, the first elections for president under the new Constitution were held and the young Fernando Collor was elected for a five-years term - the first president to be elected by direct popular ballot since the military coup. He was inaugurated in 1990 and in 1992 he became the first president in Brazil impeached due to corruption.
In 1995, Fernando Henrique Cardoso was inaugurated for a four-year term, but in 1997 an Amendment was passed and allowed him to be the first president in Brazil to be reelected.
In 2003, the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated.
| President | Picture | Took office | Left office | Vice President(s) | Political Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tancredo Neves (died on the eve of taking office) |  |
15 March 1985 | 21 April 1985 | José Sarney | Brazilian Democratic Movement Party |
| José Sarney (acting to 22 April 1985) |  |
March 15, 1985 | March 15, 1990 | vacant | Brazilian Democratic Movement Party |
| Fernando Collor |  |
March 15, 1990 | October 2, 19926 | Itamar Franco | Party of National Reconstruction |
| Itamar Franco |  |
October 2, 1992 | January 1, 1995 | vacant | Non-party |
| Fernando Henrique Cardoso |  |
January 1, 1995 | January 1, 2003 | Marco Maciel | Brazilian Social Democracy Party |
| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |  |
January 1, 2003 | incumbent, term ends December 31, 2010 | José Alencar | Workers' Party |
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