Herald Português

Exiles · 5 chapters · 25 min

Washington Luís: The Deposed President

1926 to 1947São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, the Copacabana Fort, Paris, Lausanne, Portugal and New York

The story in brief

The man who said that to govern is to open roads reaches the presidency, breaks the café-com-leite deal and wins the election of 1930. In October a revolution comes up from the South, the generals in Rio order him to resign, and he refuses. He leaves the palace a prisoner, beside a cardinal, and spends seventeen years away from Brazil.

The chapters

  1. Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free

    To Govern Is to Open Roads

    A car leaves the palace with the president and a cardinal. How he got there begins on a road.

    Sources: Constitution of 1891, art. 43; CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro, entries Washington Luís and Júlio Prestes

  2. Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free

    Coffee with Milk

    It was Minas’s turn. The president picked another paulista, and a thirty-year deal broke.

    Sources: CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro, entries Washington Luís, Júlio Prestes, Antônio Carlos de Andrada and Aliança Liberal; Boris Fausto, A Revolução de 1930

  3. Chapter 3 · 5 min

    Rumors

    The whole country warns that the revolution is coming. The president answers that it is a rumor.

    Sources: Getúlio Vargas, manifesto of 4 October 1930; CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro, entries Washington Luís, Sebastião Leme, Tasso Fragoso and Revolução de 1930

  4. Chapter 4 · 5 min

    24 October

    The generals set a deadline. The president does not resign. At five in the afternoon, a cardinal walks into the palace.

    Sources: Letter of the generals to the president, 24 October 1930; CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro, entries Washington Luís, Sebastião Leme, Tasso Fragoso and Revolução de 1930

  5. Chapter 5 · 5 min

    Seventeen Years

    A month in a fort, a British liner, a wife who dies far from home, and seventeen years of silence.

    Sources: Decree 19,398 of 11 November 1930; CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro, entries Washington Luís, Júlio Prestes and Otávio Mangabeira; Museu da República, Washington Luís papers; Museu Republicano de Itu (USP)

Who’s who

The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.

  • Júlio PrestesThe president-elect · Author of the gold plan · Poet of Itapetininga
  • Antônio Carlos de AndradaGovernor of Minas · The café-com-leite man · President of the 1934 Constituent Assembly
  • Otávio MangabeiraForeign minister · The last warning · Twice an exile
  • Dom Sebastião LemeCardinal of Rio · The mediator of 24 October · The cardinal of Christ the Redeemer
  • Tasso FragosoHead of the 1930 junta · General and historian · The man who told the president to go
  • Washington LuísThe paulista from Macaé · To govern is to open roads · The last president of the First Republic

What you’ll be able to tell

This story belongs to the journey “The Deposed”. By the end of it, you can tell why each of them had to leave, how they left, and what exile cost them.

Stories in this journey

  1. 24 Hours: The Exile of Dom Pedro II
  2. Washington Luís: The Deposed President
  3. Jango: The President Who Never Came Home

Sources

  • Constitution of 1891
  • Decree 19,398 of 11 November 1930
  • CPDOC/FGV, Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico Brasileiro
  • Museu da República, Washington Luís papers
  • Museu Republicano de Itu (USP)
  • Photographs from the Arquivo Nacional and the Brazilian press, 1914 to 1947

Exiles: every story