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The Tenentes in Power: A New Perspective on the Brazilian Revolution of 1930*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Extract

The Club 3 de Outubro, overlooked by most studies of the Brazilian revolution of 1930, played a central role in the tenente movement and in the revolution itself. The 1930s were a watershed in modern Brazilian history, when state, society, and economy were altered, sometimes radically. Although some of the changes were responses to the Depression and international conditions, the revolution as a political phenomenon was a dominant force in shaping contemporary Brazil. State authorities ceded power to the Central Government's interventors (delegates), counteracting Brazil's strong regionalist tradition and assuring the dominance of national institutions. In addition, urban voters in the 19305 for the first time had an influential voice in politics, sometimes as allies of the tenentes. The army, strengthened and unified vis-à-vis the state militias, was subordinated to the Federal Government.

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Articles
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

1 Most authors have incorrectly dated this pact as late 1931, e.g. Carone, Edgard, O tenentismo (Sāo Paulo, 1975), pp. 386388.Google Scholar However O Jornal, 24 Feb. 1931, p. 3, cites it, saying, ‘nāo foi ainda dado ao esquecimento.’Google Scholar

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3 The roster in do Amaral Peixoto, Alzira, Getúlio Vargas, meu pai (Rio, 1960), pp. 391414,Google Scholar was verified in the daily press to determine the number of tenentes in office. Cf. also Rosa, Santa, O sentido, pp. 60–1;Google ScholarYoung, Jordan M., The Brazilian Revolution of 1930 and the Aftermath (New Brunswick, 1967), pp. 82–3.Google Scholar

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26 Ibid. pp. 219–30. On the Pioneers, see O'Neil, Charles F., ‘The Search for Order and Progress: Brazilian Mass Education, 1915–1935’ Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas, 1975.Google Scholar

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34 Correio de Manhā, 5 March 1932, p. 1.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., 13 March 1932, p. 4; 19 March 1932, pp. 1, 4; 20 March 1932, p. 1; 23 March 1932, p. 1; 2 April 1932, p. 1.

36 Ibid., 5 April 1932, p. 1; 26 April 1932, p. 1; 15 May 1932, p. 1.

37 Ibid., 12 March 1932, p. 2; 16 March 1932, p. 1; 29 April 1932, p. 1; 30 April 1932, p. 1; 1 May 1932, p. 1; 3 May 1932, p. 1; 6 May 1932, p. 1; and passim.

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46 Jornal do Commercio, 19 Feb. 1933, p. 8; 22 Feb. 1933, p. 4;Google ScholarJornal do Brasil, 30 Dec. 1933, p. 7; 6 April 1934, p. 7;Google Scholarde Oliveira Castro, Américo Mendes, Tenentismo e fascismo (Rio, 1932). Cordeiro de Farias was under police surveillance: report, 14 May 1934, AAM.Google Scholar

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55 Conniff, ‘Rio de Janeiro’, pp. 143–6;Google ScholarMacid, Antunes to Vargas, 4 April 1933, AAM.Google Scholar Cf. also Vianna, Luiz Werneck, Liberalismo e sindicato no Brasil (Rio, 1976).Google Scholar

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57 Macid, Antunes to da Cunha, Flores, 2 June 1934, AAM.Google Scholar

58 Rosa, Santa, O sentido, pp. 68, 99, 112. Vargas was jokingly called chuchu after a tasteless, mushy vegetable: Malta, Os tenentes, p. 55.Google Scholar