Juscelino Kubitschek

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, a physician from Diamantina in Minas Gerais, rose through the Social Democratic Party (PSD) as mayor of Belo Horizonte and governor of Minas Gerais. Elected president in 1955, he governed from 1956 to 1961 with a Targets Plan (Plano de Metas) for energy, transport, industry and a new capital. Brasília was inaugurated in April 1960. After the 1964 coup the military regime suspended his political rights, and he went into exile. He later joined the Frente Ampla opposition and died in a car crash in 1976. He was elected senator for Goiás in 1961 and planned to run again for president in 1965, an election the military regime later cancelled.

Kubitschek is often remembered as a symbol of optimism and democratic stability between the Vargas era and the 1964 coup. Supporters credit him with rapid industrial growth, new highways and hydroelectric plants, and a modernist capital designed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. Critics point to high inflation, rising foreign debt and the cost of building Brasília, and some economists argue that his incentives favored foreign companies and regional imbalances. Allegations of corruption were raised by opponents, especially the UDN, and were cited by the military when it removed his rights in 1964. Admirers often contrast his combination of growth and civil liberties with both the Estado Novo and the later military regime, while left-wing critics argue that his model deepened dependence on foreign capital.