The government of Juscelino Kubitschek it lasted from 1956 to 1961 and had as its great mark the developmentalism . Kubitschek invested massively in the development of roads, in industrial growth, especially in heavy industry, and was responsible for the ambitious project of the construction of Brasília as the new capital of Brazil.
Read also: Fourth Brazilian Republic
Background
Juscelino Kubitschek (JK) assumed the Brazilian presidency on January 31, 1956, in the midst of a strong political crisis, which almost prevented him from taking over the presidency of the country. Throughout 1955, conservative groups linked to the National Democratic Union (political party at the time) were politically articulated to prevent the holding of the presidential election and then to prevent the inauguration of JK (winner of those elections).
The political crisis generated by the coup posture of groups like the UDN led to the Minister of War of Brazil, Marshal Henrique Teixeira Lott, to intervene in the situation from a counter-coup. On November 11, 1955, Henrique Teixeira Lott led a countercoup that removed the president in power (Carlos Luz) and placed Nereu Ramos in the presidency. The counter-coup led by Lott ratified Juscelino Kubitschek's inauguration for January 1956.
Election of 1955
Parallel to the political articulation of the conservatives to cancel the 1955 election, the formation of political slates to run for the presidency of Brazil took place. This election was attended by four candidates:Juarez Távora by the UDN, Ademar from Barros by the Progressive Social Party (PSP), Plínio Salty by the Popular Representation Party (PRP) and Juscelino Kubitschek by the PSD/PTB plate.
Juscelino Kubitschek's campaign was marked by the defense of the need to resume a policy that would develop the economy and promote the industrialization of Brazil. To launch this idea, JK's candidacy coined the slogan that marked his campaign:50 years in 5 . The idea of the slogan was to affirm that, during the five years of JK's government, Brazil would advance its economic indexes considerably.
JK's campaign was largely successful due to the Minas Gerais politician's ability to articulate political groups of different orientations to support him. This was evidenced because Kubitschek's candidacy had the support of groups of the Brazilian industrial bourgeoisie, as well as the support of communists and loyalist military (such as Lott himself).
Nevertheless, the 1955 presidential election was close, and the result was pretty tight. The election results were as follows:JK had 36% of the votes against 30% for Juarez Távora, 26% for Ademar de Barros and 8% for Plínio Salgado. In the vice race, João Goulart won with 44% of the votes. Thus, the presidency was formed by the PSD/PTB slate.
Shortly after JK and Jango's victory in the 1955 elections, the UDN mobilized again to prevent candidates from taking office on the grounds that Kubitschek had not achieved an absolute majority. of votes (51%) and, therefore, the victory of the Minas Gerais politician was “illegitimate”. The argument of the udenistas sounded absurd because under Brazilian laws at the time it was not necessary for a candidate to have an absolute majority of votes, but a simple majority. This whole situation led to Lott's intervention in the aforementioned Preventive Coup of 1955 .
JK Government
Early at the beginning of his government, Juscelino Kubitschek presented to the nation his project for the economic development of Brazil:the Plan of Goals . This economic program of the JK government stipulated 31 goals for the promotion of economic development and industrialization in Brazil. The Target Plan prioritized investment in the areas of energy, transport, heavy industry and food.
Within the Goals Plan, a series of actions were carried out by the JK government. In the case of transport, the government has invested considerably in road construction. It is estimated that more than 6 thousand kilometers of roads were built in the country between 1956 and 1960 (until then the country had 4 thousand kilometers) |1| . The dismantling of the Brazilian rail system was even started during this period.
In addition, JK has invested extensively in the development of the port and airport infrastructure from Brazil. The high investments in the area of transport symbolized the government's concern to connect the country from north to south and east to west, as it was necessary to expand roads to support the flow of industrial and agricultural production in the country.
The industrial development of the country, naturally, required a considerable expansion of the country's energy production and, therefore, the government invested a large part of the resources in the construction of hydroelectric plants to give support this increase in energy consumption that would happen with the growth of the industry in Brazil.
In all, the Target Plan investments were organized as follows:
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Transport (29%)
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Infrastructure (20%)
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Electric power (43%)
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Power (3.2%)
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Education (4.3%) |2|
High investments in industrial economic development have had a notable result. The economic indices evidenced this. The country recorded an average industrial production growth of 80%, and areas such as the transport equipment industry grew an incredible 600%.
Construction of Brasilia
Another feat that marked JK's government and was the symbol of his vision of development and progress was the construction of the new capital of Brazil, the city of Brasilia . The construction of a new capital in the interior of the country was something stipulated in the Brazilian Constitutions since 1889. JK took this idea and carried it forward.
The construction of Brasília was seen by JK as a form of economic integration of the interior of the Brazilian territory, but also as a way to reinforce nationalism. The construction of the city was carried out in record time and a huge amount of money was spent, as the president knew of the need to finish the construction of the city during his term.
Historians Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling comment on the construction of Brasília:
Juscelino has always maintained that the decision to build Brasília came out of nowhere, from a visionary gesture that he incorporated into his government program and allowed him to see far. But it is unlikely that things happened that way:Brasília fulfilled too many functions to be unintentional. It bridged the gap between the old and the new Brazil, conferred popular intelligibility to the Plano de Metas, provided JK with unprecedented bargaining power in the face of adversaries sensitive to participation in a highly profitable business, and diverted society's attention from difficult-to-solve problems to government, such as inflation and agrarian reform. Brasília became both a monument and a national symbol|3| .
Consequences
As already mentioned, the JK government achieved impressive results in the economy, especially in the area of industry, however, Kubitschek openly contributed to aggravating some chronic problems in our country. Low investments in the areas of education and food contributed to aggravating the problem of food production, the distribution of productive lands and the availability of places in universities. These issues worsened and erupted during the 1960s, especially in the years of João Goulart's government.
Also see: First phase of João Goulart's government and Second phase of João Goulart's government
In addition, Kubitschek's high spending in his government contributed to increase the country's foreign debt (which reached the figure of 3 billion dollars), and Brazil's relations with the IMF came out badly bruised. But the biggest dissatisfaction factor of the population was inflation:in 1959, inflation in Brazil reached the mark of 39.4% (it was 7% in 1957) |4| .
|1| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil:A Biography. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 416.
|2| FARO, Clovis de; SILVA, Salomão “The 50's and the Goals Program”. IN:GOMES, Angela de Castro (org). JK's Brazil. Editora FGV, 2002, p. 85.
|3| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil:A Biography. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 427.
|4| Ditto, p. 423.
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