Legality Campaign

The Legality Campaign (Portuguese: Campanha da Legalidade; also known as Legalidade) was a civil and military mobilization in 1961 to ensure the inauguration of João Goulart as President of Brazil, overturning the veto of the Armed Forces' ministers to the legal succession of president Jânio Quadros, who had resigned, to then vice president Goulart. It was led by the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Leonel Brizola, allied with the commander of the 3rd Army, general José Machado Lopes. The crisis resulted in the adoption of parliamentarism as Brazil's new system of government. On 25 August 1961, while Goulart was leading a Brazilian trade mission to the People's Republic of China, president Jânio Quadros resigned. Quadros' decision is still not understood, but it was probably a political maneuver to return to the presidency with increased powers, overcoming the political impasse he had with Congress. Quadros expected that, with the rejection to his vice president – elected from a different ticket, due to a peculiarity of the political system at the time – the anti-communist military, which had already rejected Goulart, together with popular pressure, would reverse the resignation. However, the maneuver failed and Quadros left the country. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ranieri Mazzilli, took his place temporarily, but the real power remained in the hands of the military ministers, marshal Odílio Denys, minister of war, vice admiral Sílvio Heck, minister of the Navy, and air brigadier Gabriel Grün Moss, minister of the Air Force. Constituting in practice a junta, the three ministers broke the legal order and vetoed the vice president's inauguration, demanding that new elections be held. This veto is characterized as an attempted coup d'état by several historians. Carlos Lacerda, governor of Guanabara, agreed with the veto, but the ministers did not have enough support...