The story in brief
A president resigns with a note, his vice-president takes office under a makeshift parliamentary system, and three years of crisis end with tanks on the road from Juiz de Fora. The intervention that promised to be short lasts 21 years: institutional acts, censorship, an economic “miracle”, torture and exile, until an opening the regime itself controls.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
Jango
A president resigns with a note. His vice-president is in China.
Sources: Jânio’s resignation note (1961); Jorge Ferreira
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
The Coup
A general who forged a plan in 1937 puts the troops on the road.
Sources: Institutional Act of 9 April 1964, preamble
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The AI-5
A speech almost nobody heard becomes the pretext to close Congress.
Sources: Institutional Act No. 5 (1968), art. 10; Elio Gaspari
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
Miracle and Cellars
The country wins its third World Cup and grows 14% a year. In the cellars, the story is different.
Sources: National Truth Commission, Report, 2014
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Opening
A cathedral, a rabbi and a pastor pray together against the dictatorship.
Sources: Law 6,683 of 28 August 1979, article 1
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- João Goulart (Jango)Getúlio’s heir · Deposed president · Died in exile
- Castelo BrancoFEB veteran · First general-president · AI-2
- Márcio Moreira AlvesReporter · Deputy · The speech behind the AI-5
- Emílio Garrastazu MédiciGeneral from Bagé · The miracle · The years of lead
- Ernesto GeiselLutheran general · The easing · The end of the AI-5
- Dom Paulo Evaristo ArnsCardinal of São Paulo · The service for Herzog · Brasil: Nunca Mais
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Twentieth Century”. By the end of it, you can tell why Vargas left the presidency “to enter history”, and how the Real ended a decade of runaway prices.
Stories in this journey
- Getúlio Vargas: Into History
- JK: Brasília
- 1964: The Years of Lead
- Diretas Já: From the Streets to the Real
Sources
- Jânio Quadros’s resignation note (1961)
- Institutional Act of 9 April 1964
- AI-5 (1968)
- Report of the National Truth Commission (2014)
- Law 6,683 (1979)
