List of Presidents of Brazil

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This is a list of Presidents of Brazil.

1 Old republic
2 Vargas era
3 The republic of 1946
4 The military dictatorship
5 The new republic
6 See also

[edit] Old republic

Main article: History of Brazil (1889-1930)

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 federative 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	Took office	Left office	Vice President(s)	Notes
1	Deodoro da Fonseca	November 15, 1889	November 23, 1891	Floriano Peixoto	Led the Proclamation of the Republic. Acted as Head of the Provisional Government until February 1891, when Congress elected him to be the first president. After a conflict with the Legislature, he attempted to suspend the Constitution and rule by decree, but that coup was shortlived and he was forced to resign.
2	Floriano Peixoto	November 23, 1891	November 15, 1894	vacant	Inaugurated after Deodoro's resignation.
3	Prudente de Morais	November 15, 1894	November 15, 1898	Manuel Vitorino	Federal Republican Party (PRF). First President elected by direct popular ballot.
4	Campos Sales	November 15, 1898	November 15, 1902	Rosa e Silva	Federal Republican Party (PRF).
5	Rodrigues Alves	November 15, 1902	November 15, 1906	Silviano Brandão Afonso Pena
6	Afonso Pena	November 15, 1906	June 14, 1909^[1]	Nilo Peçanha	Mineiro Republican Party (PRM). Died while in office.
7	Nilo Peçanha	June 14, 1909	November 15, 1910	vacant	Inaugurated after Pena's death.
8	Hermes da Fonseca	November 15, 1910	November 15, 1914	Venceslau Brás
9	Venceslau Brás	November 15, 1914	November 15, 1918	Urbano Santos	Mineiro Republican Party (PRM).
10	Rodrigues Alves			Delfim Moreira	First person to be elected more than once to the presidency. Died before inauguration.
11	Delfim Moreira	November 15, 1918	July 28, 1919	vacant	Mineiro Republican Party (PRM). Inaugurated after the death of President-elect Rodrigues Alves.
12	Epitácio Pessoa	July 28, 1919	November 15, 1922	Bueno de Paiva	Elected to complete the 1918-1922 presidential term.
13	Artur Bernardes	November 15, 1922	November 15, 1926	Estacio Coimbra	Mineiro Republican Party (PRM).
14	Washington Luís	November 15, 1926	October 24, 1930	Melo Viana	Paulista Republican Party (PRP). Overthrown three weeks before the end of his term.
15	Júlio Prestes			Vital Soares	President-elect, not inaugurated because of 1930 Revolution.

[edit] Vargas era

Main article: History of Brazil (1930-1945)

#	President	Took office	Left office	Vice President(s)	Notes
16	Augusto Fragoso	October 24, 1930	November 3, 1930	vacant	Provisorial military junta after 1930 Revolution.
	Mena Barreto
	Isaías de Noronha
17	Getúlio Vargas	November 3, 1930	October 29, 1945	vacant^[2]	Head of the Provisional Government from 1930 until 1934. Constitutional president from 1934 to 1937. Estado Novo dictator from the coup d'etát of November 10, 1937 to 1945, with the title of President.
18	José Linhares	October 29, 1945	January 31, 1946	vacant	Chief Justice of Brazil. Installed as president after a military coup overthrew Vargas.

[edit] The republic of 1946

Main article: History of Brazil (1945-1964)

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 presidencialism and a military coup deposed Goulart in 1964, starting the military dictatorship.

#	President	Took office	Left office	Vice President(s)	Notes
19	Gaspar Dutra	January 31, 1946	January 31, 1951	Nereu Ramos	Social Democratic Party (PSD).
20	Getúlio Vargas	January 31, 1951	August 24, 1954^[3]	Café Filho	Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). Elected by popular ballot. Committed suicide while in office.
21	Café Filho	August 24, 1954	November 9, 1955^[4]	vacant	PTB. Inaugurated after Vargas' suicide. Took a leave of absence. After the deposition of the Acting President Carlos Luz, he was prevented by the military from resuming the powers of the office, and remained in forced leave of absence until the end of his term.
22	Carlos Luz	November 9, 1955	November 11, 1955	vacant	PSD. President of the Chamber of Deputies, inaugurated as Acting President after Café Filho's leave of absence. Deposed by the military.
23	Nereu Ramos	November 11, 1955	January 31, 1956	vacant	PSD. President of the Senate, inaugurated as Acting President after the deposition of Carlos Luz.
24	Juscelino Kubitschek	January 31, 1956	January 31, 1961	João Goulart	PSD. Constructed a new capital, Brasília.
25	Jânio Quadros	January 31, 1961	August 25, 1961^[5]	João Goulart	Christian Democratic Party / National Democratic Union (UDN). Resigned the presidency.
26	Ranieri Mazzilli	August 25, 1961	September 7, 1961	vacant	PSD. President of the Chamber of Deputies. Upon the resignation of Janio Quadros, took office as Acting President before Goulart's inauguration, given that the Vice-president was abroad.
27	João Goulart	September 7, 1961	April 1, 1964	vacant	PTB. Deposed by a military coup.

[edit] The military dictatorship

Main article: History of Brazil (1964-1985)

#	President	Took office	Left office	Vice President(s)	Notes
28	Ranieri Mazzilli	April 2, 1964	April 15, 1964	vacant	President of the Chamber of Deputies, took office as provisional president after the military coup.
29	Castelo Branco	April 15, 1964	March 15, 1967	José Maria Alckmin	Military dictator. Elected by an Electoral College.
30	Costa e Silva	March 15, 1967	August 31, 1969	Pedro Aleixo	Military dictator. Incapacitated by a stroke.
	Augusto Rademaker	August 31, 1969	October 30, 1969	vacant	Military Junta, inaugurated after Costa e Silva's illness.
	Aurélio de Lira
	Márcio Melo
31	Emilio Medici	October 30, 1969	March 15, 1974	Augusto Rademaker	Military dictator.
32	Ernesto Geisel	March 15, 1974	March 15, 1979	Adalberto Pereira dos Santos	Military dictator.
33	João Figueiredo	March 15, 1979	March 15, 1985	Aureliano Chaves	Military dictator.

[edit] The new republic

Main article: History of Brazil (1985-present)

Brazilian Presidential Standard

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	Took office	Left office	Vice President(s)	Notes
34	Tancredo Neves			José Sarney	Elected by the Electoral College. Became gravely ill on the eve of his innauguration. Died during his presidential term, without having taken the oath of office. Although he never formally became president, Brazilian Federal Law 7.465, promulgated on the second anniversary of his death (1986), included him posthumously in the roll of the presidents of Brazil, "for all legal purposes".
35	José Sarney	March 15, 1985	March 15, 1990	vacant	Tancredo's Vice-president. Served as Acting President from the beginning of the presidential term, due to Tancredo's illness and inability to take the oath of office. Was inaugurated as President after Tancredo's death.
36	Fernando Collor	March 15, 1990	October 2, 1992^[6]	Itamar Franco	First president elected by popular vote since the military coup. Impeached by the Chamber of Deputies, with automatic suspension from office. Convicted of the impeachment charges by the Senate. Resigned the presidency during the Senate's trial of impeachment, in a failed attempt to abort the proceedings.
37	Itamar Franco	October 2, 1992	January 1, 1995	vacant	Inaugurated as Acting President after Collor's impeachment, became President after his resignation.
38	Fernando Henrique Cardoso	January 1, 1995	January 1, 2003	Marco Maciel	First president to be reelected to a second term.
39	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	January 1, 2003	incumbent, term ends December 31, 2010	José Alencar