BrazilWho was Tancredo Neves?
Tancredo de Almeida Neves, a lawyer from São João del Rei in Minas Gerais, entered politics in the 1930s and joined the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was Minister of Justice under Getúlio Vargas in 1953-1954 and became the first prime minister when Congress adopted a parliamentary system in 1961 to allow João Goulart to take office. Under the military regime he joined the opposition MDB, founded the Popular Party (PP) in 1979, merged it into the PMDB and won the governorship of Minas Gerais in 1982. In January 1985 the Electoral College chose him president, but he fell ill on the eve of his inauguration and died on 21 April 1985.
Political views
Accepted the 1961 parliamentary amendment as a negotiated way out of the crisis over Goulart's succession and led its first cabinet.
Source: planalto.gov.brOpposed the military regime from within the legal opposition, favoring gradual change over confrontation.
Source: www18.fgv.brDefended national conciliation as the best path for the transition from military rule to civilian democracy.
Source: www18.fgv.brSupported the 1984 Diretas Já campaign for direct presidential elections, then built the Democratic Alliance with dissidents from the government party.
Source: www18.fgv.brPromised to convene a constituent assembly to replace the constitutional framework of the military regime.
Source: www18.fgv.brWarned that prolonged recession and high inflation would damage Brazilian industry and agriculture and called for growth-oriented policies.
Source: www18.fgv.br
Legacy
Tancredo Neves is widely regarded in Brazil as a symbol of the return to civilian rule, and his illness and death drew vast public mourning. Admirers praise his skill as a negotiator who brought together opposition and former regime supporters to end 21 years of military government without violence. Critics, especially on the left, argued that his path through the indirect Electoral College and his alliance with former regime politicians kept continuity with the old order and delayed a full break with it. Because he never took office, assessments rest on his long parliamentary career rather than on a presidential record.
In their words
It would have to be a center-left PSD, a party attuned to social realities, with a more pronounced social-democratic character, in search of social justice, without radicalism and without ideological commitments.