André Ferraz, Brazilian President 1961-1963

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

Ferraz was a devout Catholic and WW2 veteran from a large, poor mixed-race family, who opposed both economic liberalism and communism.

José Alberto Ferraz was born on 4 December 1920, in João Pessoa, Paraíba (then named Paraíba) to a mixed race, middle-class family.

The third of six children, four of which died during childhood, his family faced discrimination because of race, and according to his autobiography, Ferraz spent entire days without nothing to eat.

He studied at a Catholic school since his parents couldn't afford any other, and developed a strong religiosity which marked him for the rest of his life.

After his parents moved to Minas Gerais in 1941, Ferraz changed his name to André Alberto Ferraz, and briefly became a travelling salesman. In 1943, Ferraz joined the Brazilian Expeditionary Force as an infantryman, and fought in the Battle of Monte Castelo, distinguishing himself in battle.

After WWII ended, Ferraz returned to Brazil, and married Maria Luiza, with whom he had three children.

After being outraged at the corruption and poverty of his state, Ferraz decided to enter politics, being elected an alderman in 1948 for the Brazilian Labour Party, and becoming known for proposing bills related to the working class. Two years later, Ferraz was elected the Mayor of João Pessoa, narrowly triumphing over the Democratic National Union candidate.

As mayor, Ferraz expanded sanitation, constructed 70 schools and 20 health units, and paved most dirt roads. The Mayor was so popular he decided to run for Governor of Paraíba in 1955 as the Social Labour Party candidate, being elected with relative ease.

During his governorship, Ferraz encouraged the creation of rural cooperatives, constructed an airstrip in João Pessoa, built 150 schools and 30 hospitals, made schoolbooks free of charge, and laid highways in the underdeveloped west of the state. His proposals for a graduated income tax and profit-sharing were blocked by the state legislature.

When former Governor of São Paulo Jânio Quadros considered to run for President, Ferraz personally reached out to him and promised to do it instead, and giving him a cabinet position where he could fight corruption. Therefore, Ferraz announced his intention to run on 6 of October 1959.

Ferraz ran a left-wing populist campaign, promising to redistribute unproductive agricultural land, implement a progressive income tax, require large businesses to provide paid maternity leave, extend workers' rights to agricultural workers, construct public works to integrate the Amazon Rainforest to the rest of Brazil, follow an independent foreign policy, allow the illiterate to vote, end separate elections to President and VP, control wages and prices to reduce inflation, restrict the outsourcing of profits, make trade schools tuition-free, mechanize agriculture, and purchase the agricultural surplus annually, using it to provide low-cost food to the poor.

Ferraz defeated government candidate Henrique Lott and conservative leader Carlos Lacerda in an upset, becoming the second mixed-race President of Brazil.

Vice President: João Goulart

Ferraz saw the presidency as a way to make things better for the average Brazilian, with the use of force if necessary. He tended to oppose laissez-faire attitudes to both economics and society, due to seeing them as opposed to Brazil's Catholic values. He was the first President to be inaugurated in the country's new capital, Brasília.

**Domestic Policy**

During his two years as Brazilian President, Ferraz:

- Created a progressive income tax, with the highest bracket being taxed at 35% (originally it was 50%, but conservatives in Congress saw it as a "communist" measure)
- Amended the constitution to give illiterate Brazilians the vote: political parties received numbers.
- Controlled wages and prices to reduce inflation.
- Provided preferential tax treatment for agricultural and consumer cooperatives, while redistributing one fourth of Brazil's unused land to minor landowners.
- Focused Brazil's education system on "apprentice schools" (roughly equivalent to trade schools), although he failed to make them tuition-free.
- Expanded the mechanisation of agriculture, and extended Social Security to farmers.
- Began a policy to purchase surplus crops and use them to provide low-cost food to the poor.
- Laid 2,150 kilometers (1,335 miles) of highways, often displacing indigenous peoples for their construction.
- Unsuccessfully tried to tax financial transactions, and limit the outsourcing of profits.
- Under the watch of his right-hand man Jânio Quadros, relentlessly fought corruption at all levels, launching countless investigations.
- A constitutional amendment to tie vice presidential candidates to presidential ones was ratified on October 3, 1962.
- Worked closely with Vice President Goulart, thereby setting a precedent.
- Was in the process of publicly signing a constitutional amendment allowing for two presidential terms when he was assassinated.
- Banned the practice of marrying off rape victims to their abusers.
- Created a state-owned television channel, named TV Brasil.
- Refused all requests to resign from office
- Unsuccessfully tried to nationalize ITT.

**Foreign Policy**

Brazil:

- Was one of the founders of the Non-aligned movement.
- Developed close bilateral ties with Egypt, India, Cuba (much to the United States' chagrin) and Yugoslavia.
 - Suspended payment of its foreign debt on 6 November 1961, raising eyebrows in the United States and Europe.
- Increased foreign trade with the Soviet Union and China, although Ferraz publicly condemned Communism multiple times.
- Distanced itself from the United States; one of the causes of the Ferraz assassination.
- Continued the protectionist approach began by Getúlio Vargas, keeping import tariffs high.
- Called for the dismantling of Portugal's colonial empire.
- Purchased AMX-13 light tanks and Panhard AML armored cars from France, FN FAL rifles from Belgium, T-33 fighter jets from the United States, and tried to buy Il-28 bombers from the Soviet Union months before Ferraz's assassination.
- Named a black ambassador to Ethiopia.

**André Ferraz's assassination**

On 6 of February 1963, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies narrowly passed a constitutional amendment allowing Brazilian presidents to serve two consecutive terms. One day later, Ferraz held a rally in São Paulo's Paulista Avenue to commemorate it.

When he began to give his speech, someone screamed: "Comunista do caralho!" (ing communist!) and shots were heard. One of them hit the President in the left arm, another in the chest, and another hit Vice President Goulart in the right leg. Ferraz was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late, and the President of Brazil was pronounced dead at age 43. Vice President Goulart was sworn in the following day.