Venceslau Brás
President of Brazil from 1914 to 1918
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Venceslau Brás Pereira Gomes[a] (26 February 1868 – 15 May 1966) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 9th President of Brazil from 1914 to 1918. Prior to his presidency he served as governor of Minas Gerais from 1909 to 1910, and as the 6th Vice President of Brazil under President Hermes da Fonseca from 1910 to 1914.
Venceslau Brás | ||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 1914 | ||||||||||||
| 9th President of Brazil | ||||||||||||
| In office 15 November 1914 – 15 November 1918 | ||||||||||||
| Vice President | Urbano Santos | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Hermes da Fonseca | |||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Delfim Moreira | |||||||||||
| 6th Vice President of Brazil | ||||||||||||
| In office 15 November 1910 – 15 November 1914 | ||||||||||||
| President | Hermes da Fonseca | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nilo Peçanha | |||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Urbano Santos | |||||||||||
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| Personal details | ||||||||||||
| Born | 26 February 1868 | |||||||||||
| Died | 15 May 1966 (aged 98) Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil | |||||||||||
| Party | PRM | |||||||||||
| Spouse | ||||||||||||
| Children | 7 | |||||||||||
| Parent(s) | Francisco Brás Pereira Gomes (father) Isabel Pereira dos Santos (mother) | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | Faculty of Law of Largo de São Francisco | |||||||||||
| Signature |  | |||||||||||
Early life
Venceslau Brás Pereira Gomes was born in São Caetano da Vargem Grande on 26 February 1868. He came from an oligarchic family.[1]
Career
From 1909 to 1910, Brás served as governor of Minas Gerais.[2]
Presidency (1914–1918)
Brás won the 1914 presidential election with 91.6% of the vote.[3]
Vice President Urbano Santos da Costa Araújo served as acting president from 8 September to 9 October 1917 due to Brás suffering from an illness.[4]
World War I
Lauro Müller, the Minister of Foreign Affairs under da Fonseca, was retained in Brás' cabinet. Müller's German heritage hurt his popularity as hostility towards Germany increased in Brazil.[5] Müller resigned on 3 May 1917, and was replaced by Nilo Peçanha.[6]
Brazil remained neutral in World War I under da Fonseca.[7] Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Germany were broken on 11 April 1917, and seized 43 German merchant ships.[8][9] The Brazilian steamer Macao was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Spain in October. Brás called for Brazil to enter World War I "in order to maintain the dignity of the nation."[9] The Brazilian National Congress voted to declare war on the Central Powers on 26 October.[10]
Death and legacy
Brás died in Itajubá on 15 February 1966.[1]
Perobal was renamed to Presidente Venceslau in honour of Brás in 1921.[11]
Notes
- Throughout his life Brás spelled his name as "Wenceslau Braz", although there exist postage stamps with the spelling "Wenceslao" as well. The 1943 reform of Portuguese orthography stipulates that the names of deceased persons must be spelled according to standard Portuguese spelling rules. All Portuguese-language texts about Brás published after 1966 must therefore spell his name Venceslau Brás.
