Tancredo Neves he was a Brazilian politician who had a well-known trajectory in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Minas Gerais, Tancredo Neves started his professional career as a lawyer and got involved in politics in the 1930s.. From the Fourth Republic (1946-1964), Tancredo established himself as one of the central figures in Brazilian politics.
Participated in the governments of Getulio Vargas and João Goulart and did opposition to the military during the Military Dictatorship. He was directly involved in the country's political movement for redemocratization and won the Military College that elected the first civilian president since the 1960s. Health problems ended up preventing the politician from Minas Gerais from taking over the presidency.
readmore: Costa e Silva government - second military president during the Dictatorship
First years of Tancredo Neves
Tancredo de Almeida Neves was born in São João del-Rei, traditional city in the interior of Minas Gerais, on March 4, 1910. He was the son of Francisco de Paulo Neves and Antonina de Almeida Neves, being the fifth of twelve children of the couple. The financial condition of Tancredo's family was good, since his father owned a business and some properties.
Tancredo's father died in 1922, leaving commerce and property to his wife and children. The business, however, went bankrupt after “Seu Chiquito” (Tancredo's father's nickname) passed away. Thus, the creation of Tancredo and his siblings was carried out through the efforts of their mother, affectionately called Dona Sinha.
During his school years, Tancredo studied at two schools: Grupo Escolar João dos Santos, between 1917-1920, and Colégio Santo Antônio, between 1921-1927. After completing basic education, Tancredo entered the Engineering course, but gave up and failed to enter the Naval School and the Faculty of Medicine.
Passed to Right and moved to Belo Horizonte to study. In order to survive, he had to work jobs as a clerk, then worked in the Education department and worked as a journalist.
Tancredo joins politics
Tancredo Neves claimed that since his youth he had a certain interest in politics and this was manifested when he became involved with Getúlio Vargas' candidacy in the 1930 election. After the Gaucho politician lost, Tancredo became involved in 1930 revolution. Two years later, he publicly demonstrated his support for the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, getting to be arrested for it.
In 1932, he finished his course and began acting as attorney when opening a law firm in his hometown. In 1933, under the influence of Augusto Viegas, he joined the Progressive Party and, two years later, in 1935, he managed to be electedcity councilor through the city of São João del-Rei. This was the first political position held by Tancredo.
This political experience of Tancredo lasted only two years, as the coup of the new state carried out by Vargas in 1937, put an end to the Legislative in Brazil. Between 1937 and 1946, Tancredo Neves dedicated himself to law and only returned to politics with the redemocratization of Brazil after the Second World War.
readalso: 1955 preemptive coup - the political crisis that set in after Vargas' death
Tancredo as an ally of Vargas
The redemocratization of Brazil took place with the removal of Vargas, in October 1945, and the construction of the first democratic experience in our history. With this, Tancredo joined one of the most traditional political parties of the 1946-1964 period, the Social Democratic Party (PSD). elected to state deputy in 1947 with 5,226 votes.
In Minas Gerais politics, Tancredo Neves approached Juscelino Kubitschek and took part in his campaign in the dispute for the government of Minas Gerais, in 1950. That year, he was elected federal deputy with 11,515 votes. Tancredo's rapprochement with JK and the alliance between PTB and PSD made Tancredo become approached Getúlio Vargas.
In the second government of Getúlio Vargas (1951-1954), Tancredo was appointed to the Justice ministry, after Vargas and JK studied names for the position. It was his role to strengthen JK's future candidacy for the presidency and stop the coup wave that grew up against Vargas in Brazil, driven by the opposition party, the National Democratic Union (UDN).
In the exercise of his role, he faced one of the greatest political crises in the history of the republic in Brazil. THE Carlos Lacerda's assassination attempt, Vargas' biggest political opponent, resulted in the assassination of Major Rubens Vaz. Tancredo Neves had to act to prove the innocence of Vargas and his son Luther in this case.
O Vargas suicide it was a shock to the whole of Brazil, including Tancredo. After this happened, he went against the management of Café Filho, Vargas' vice-president, who joined the coup. He continued to support Vargas' political heirs and, in 1955, actively worked on the campaign that elected Juscelino Kubitschek as president of Brazil. Political interests meant that Tancredo did not have positions in the JK government.
In the presidential succession crisis, caused by the resignation of Janio Quadros, Tancredo Neves was against the coup that tried to prevent the possession guaranteed by the 1946 Constitution to vice president João Goulart (Jango). Tancredo was one of the supporters of the adoption of parliamentarism as a way to cool the mood and ensure Jango's possession.
Personally, Tancredo had accumulated administrative positions from 1955 to 1960. In 1960, he played and lost the gubernatorial election of the state of Minas Gerais. In 1961, the Prime Minister from Brazil, taking over the function one day after Jango took office. He remained in office for about ten months and resigned to run for election to congresspersonfederal, being elected with 58,090 votes.
Tancredo in opposition
Tancredo Neves was a parliamentarian throughout the political crisis that led to the coup that overthrew President João Goulart. Throughout the crisis he remained supporting the president, was against the coup and did not vote in Humberto Castello Branco, in the 1964 indirect presidential election. Tancredo was not impeached by the military.
was part of a opposition moderate against the military and acted during much of the Dictatorship at the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the opposition party. He remained as a federal deputy until 1978, when he was elected to senator. In 1982, elected to governor of Minas Gerais.
readmore: 1988 Constitution - one of the landmarks of the redemocratization of Brazil
Redemocratization of Brazil
With the 1980s, the redemocratization movement gained strength and Tancredo Neves was among the Brazilian politicians involved. He was a traditional opposition politician and therefore was nominated for the Electoral College 1985. That same year, the proposal by Diretas Já was born and Tancredo publicly supported it.
Historians, however, know that politically Tancredo wanted the 1985 election to take place indirectly, as his chances of victory were far greater. The defeat of the Diretas already defined the scenario of the Electoral College of 1985: Paulmaluf (PDS), was the candidate of the military and Tancredosnows (PMDB) was the opposition party.
Tancredo Neves won the support of many politicians from the PDS, the successor to the military party. Tancredo directly negotiated the membership of this group of dissidents known as the Liberal Front and was victorious. Chapa, who was formed with José Sarney as vice president, was elected with 480 votes.
Death of Tancredo Neves
Tancredo's election had left the whole country in celebration, after all, 21 years of Military Dictatorship would come to an end with the inauguration of the Minas Gerais politician. Yourinauguration was scheduled for March 15 and Tancredo made all the preparations for the composition of his government. A disaster, however, happened.
Tancredo Neves had been hiding a pain in his abdomen for weeks. He refused to seek medical treatment because he feared the military would use it to prevent his possession. Over time, the pain increased and Tancredo sought private care. Doctors examined him and consulted that he had a infection picture supposedly caused by appendicitis.
Tancredo was instructed to undergo surgery, but only agreed to do so after taking office. The day before assuming the presidency, on March 14, Tancredo Neves was sick and had to be taken to the Federal District Base Hospital. There he had a precarious service, without the proper conditions of asepsis and was operated in a rush.
Historian Jorge Ferreira goes so far as to say that around thirty people entered the room of Tancredo – something unthinkable by current medical standards for a person with an infectious condition serious|1|. The reports made by Tancredo's family members were optimistic, but the doctors knew that Tancredo's condition was serious.
Tancredo Neves underwent seven surgeries and was hospitalized in Brasília and São Paulo. His infectious condition only got worse and it was alleged that his death was caused by complications caused by the infection of a benign tumor. At the time, doctors said that the cause of Tancredo's health problems was diverticulitis, a hypothesis that was discarded years later.
With the death of Tancredo, the vice president jose sarney, a former military ally, assumed the presidency, governing Brazil until 1990, the year in which the presidency was passed to Fernando Collor de Mello.
Note
|1| FERREIRA, Jorge. The accidental president: José Sarney and the democratic transition. In.: Brasil Republicano: from the democratic transition to the 2016 political crisis. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 2018, p. 37.
Image credit
[1] FGV/CPDOC