Artur Bernardes

Artur da Silva Bernardes was born 8 August 1875 and built a career as a lawyer before entering politics in 1905, rising to lead the Republican Party of Minas Gerais and serving as the state's president from 1918 to 1922. He blocked American mining interests in Itabira and founded what became the Federal University of Viçosa, cultivating a nationalist image. The 1922 presidential race brought fake letters meant to destroy him and a revolt at Copacabana Fort to stop his inauguration - he took office anyway. From July 1924 onward his government faced tenentist uprisings: he brokered peace in Rio Grande do Sul's civil war, toppled opposing parties in Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, reorganized the political police, and ordered the bombing of São Paulo and a penal colony at Clevelândia where hundreds died. He granted no amnesty, repressed anarchist workers while passing some labor laws, imposed austerity to fight inflation, withdrew Brazil from the League of Nations, and pushed through the only reform to the 1891 Constitution.