Eurico Gaspar Dutra

Eurico Gaspar Dutra was born in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, and made his career in the army. He helped put down the 1935 communist uprising and, as minister of war from 1936, backed the 1937 coup that created Getúlio Vargas's Estado Novo. In October 1945 he took part in the military removal of Vargas, then won the presidential election that December as candidate of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), with Vargas's late endorsement. His government promulgated the 1946 Constitution, which restored elections, federalism and civil rights, but it also moved sharply against the left and organized labor as the Cold War began. After leaving office he kept influence through the PSD and the military hierarchy, and he died in Rio de Janeiro in 1974.

Dutra is usually remembered as a cautious, legalistic president who oversaw the return to constitutional rule after the Estado Novo. Admirers credit him with respecting the 1946 Constitution, holding regular elections and handing power to his elected successor, even though that successor was Vargas. Critics note that he had been one of the main military supporters of the 1937 dictatorship, and that his government outlawed the Communist Party, expelled its elected legislators, broke relations with the Soviet Union and repressed strikes and independent unions. Economists fault his early import liberalization for quickly draining the foreign reserves accumulated during the war. The casino ban he decreed in 1946 remained in force for decades and is still cited in Brazilian debates over legalizing gambling.