Members of the military police wait outside the office of Gilberto Mestrinho, a representative of the Brazilian Workers’ Party, who had his political rights suspended by executive decress. From Correio da Manhã, courtesy of the Brazilian National Archive.
When the military orchestrated an overthrow of the Goulart government in 1964, their dedication to the ideal of “legalism” led them into an alliance with the right-wing National Democratic Union (UDN). After purging the National Congress of leftist elements, the relatively moderate general Castelo Branco, who unlike many of his more apocalyptically-minded comrades still believed in the legitimacy of some political officials, was elected president.
Through the succeeding two decades, the regime used increasingly repressive tactics to ensure the success of its candidates and policies, but it never failed to mask its actions behind elections and a series of institutional acts.
Read about the changes in regime policy and orientation through biographies of the five military general-presidents: