Goulart took office in 1961 amidst great expectations for progressive change. Yet, the decks of Brazil’s political system were stacked against reformist presidents. The structure of Brazilian political rules presented fragmented incentives among the different levels of the legislature. Presidents and vice presidents were elected in majority elections while members of the lower chamber of Congress were elected on proportional rules. This meant that Brazilian incumbents had a clear popular mandate to implement their campaign’s programmatic promises, while members of the Chamber of Deputies had little commitment to see the president’s agenda succeed. In this context, passing reforms was a considerable challenge. At the time of Goulart coming to office, the majority of the Brazilian Congress was in the hands of conservative parties who dismissed progressive change in the country’s laws as a prelude to social upheaval and instability.

Reformas de Base, Goulart’s program of “basic reforms,” included the extension of labor protections to rural workers, redistributive agrarian reform, and universal suffrage. His economic policies including support for a larger role of the state, natural resource sovereignty, and some limit on the remittances of profits abroad by multinational corporations operating in Brazilian territories were seen as progressive but well-suited to capitalist development. Washington officials also thought Goulart’s social agenda would be beneficial in a country that had seen too little social justice.

Sources:

• Spektor, Matias. “The United States and the 1964 Brazilian Military Coup.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Oxford University Press, 2018.