The Alliance for Progress and President João Goulart’s Three-Year Plan: the deterioration of U.S.-Brazilian Relations in Cold War Brazil (1962)

Abstract

This paper analyses U.S.-Brazilian relations during the elaboration of João Goulart’s Three-Year Plan in late 1962, which sought to tackle Brazil’s severe economic imbalances without compromising growth and through the implementation of distributive reforms. Although the plan followed the principles of John F. Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress, Washington did not offer adequate assistance because of Goulart’s threats to increase links with the Soviet bloc. The United States hardened its position, seeking to change the orientation of the Brazilian government. This led to the abandonment of the Three-Year Plan, and contributed to social and political destabilisation that resulted in Brazil’s March 1964 military coup.

Acknowledgments

This research was financed by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP (São Paulo’s Research Foundation). Earlier versions were presented at ISA-FLACSO Joint International Conference in Buenos Aires in July 2014 and at the 2^nd Economic History Workshop, organised by the University of São Paulo’s Faculty of Economics, Business and Accounting in October 2014. I thank Alexandre Moreli, Carlo Patti, Dustin Walcher, Gianfranco Caterina, James Hershberg, Leandro Morgenfeld, Renato Colistete, Stephen Rabe, Tanya Harmer, and two anonymous reviewers of Cold War History for their valuable suggestions. I am especially grateful to Giselle Datz for her helpful recommendations. Errors and omissions are my responsibility.

Notes

¹ Michael Dunne, “Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress: Countering Revolution in Latin America (Part I): From the White House to the Charter of Punta Del Este,” International Affairs, 89, no.6 (2013): 1389–1409; “Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress: Countering Revolution in Latin America (Part II): the Historiographical Record,” International Affairs, 92, no. 2 (2016): 435–52; Jeffrey Taffet, Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy. The Alliance for Progress in Latin America (New York: Routledge, 2007); Jerome Levinson and Juan de Onís, The Alliance That Lost Its Way (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1970); and Stephen Rabe, The Most Dangerous Area in the World. John F. Kennedy Confronts Communist Revolution in Latin America (Chapel Hill: University of North Caroline Press, 1999).

² Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, “The Brazilian Economy,” in The Cambridge History of Latin America. Brazil since 1930, vol. IX, ed. Leslie Bethell (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008): 281-394.

³ CIA Memorandum, no 3936, 1962. Presidential Papers (hereafter PP), National Security Files (hereafter NSF), Ralph Dungan Files (hereafter RDF), Box 390, Folder “Brazil General 11/62-12/62,” John F. Kennedy Library (hereafter JFKL).

⁴ Report, The Alliance for Progress: Its Second Year, 1962-1963. Second Report on the Progress of Economic and Social Development in Latin America and Prospects for the Future, Second Annual Meetings of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council (IA-ECOSOC) at the Expert Level and at the Ministerial Level, October-November, 1963, São Paulo, Brazil, Teodoro Moscoso Personal Papers (hereafter TMPP), Box 3, Folder “The Alliance for Progress, 11/63”, JFKL, 171.

⁵ For recommendations usually involved in a stand-by agreement, taking a Latin American country as example, see Luizi Manzetti, The International Monetary Fund and Economic Stabilization. The Argentine Case (New York: Praeger, 1991).

⁶ Felipe Loureiro, Empresários, trabalhadores e grupos de interesse. A política econômica nos governos Jânio Quadros e João Goulart (UNESP, 2017): ch. 7.

⁷ Margaret Power, ‘Who but a Woman? The Transnational Diffusion of Anti-Communism among Conservative Women in Brazil, Chile and the United States during the Cold War,’ Journal of Latin American Studies, 47, no. 1 (Feb. 2015): 93-119, 94. See also Stephen Rabe, The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America (New York, Oxford University Press, 2012): 110-111; Tanya Harmer, ‘Brazil’s Cold War in the Southern Cone, 1970-1975,’ Cold War History 12, no. 4 (Nov. 2012): 659-681, 672; Taffet, Foreign Aid, 121.

⁸ The expression was employed by Osvaldo Filho, a federal deputy from the state of Pernambuco. Telegram 1767, Rio de Janeiro to the Department of State, March 19, 1963, PP, NSF, Box 13A, Folder ‘Brazil General, 9/62,’ JFKL. For the importance of the Three-Year Plan to Brazil’s democracy, see Jorge Ferreira and Ângela Gomes, 1964. O golpe que derrubou um presidente, pôs fim ao regime democrático e instituiu a ditadura no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2014): 143–160.

⁹ Andrew J. Kirkendall. Paulo Freire and the Cold war Politics of Literacy (Chapel Hill: University of North Caroline Press, 2010), 178-179. See also Rabe, Killing Zone, 108-113; Taffet, Foreign Aid, 104-114, 121; Michael Weis, Cold Warriors and Coups d’état: Brazilian-American Relations, 1945-1964 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993), ch.6; and ‘Twilight of Pan-Americanism: The Alliance for Progress, Neo-Colonialism, and Non-Alignment in Brazil, 1961–1964,’ The International History Review 23, vol. 2 (2001): 322–344. For a perspective that stresses the role of U.S. business in the deterioration of US-Brazilian relations, see Ruth Leacock, Requiem for Revolution: The United States and Brazil, 1961–1969 (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1990): 79–102.

¹⁰ Thomas Field, Jr., From Development to Dictatorship: Bolivia and the Alliance for Progress in the Kennedy Era (Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2014), 3.

¹¹ Ibid., 194-196.

¹² Kirk Tyvela, ‘“A Slight but Salutary Case of the Jitters”: The Kennedy Administration and the Alliance for Progress in Paraguay,’ Diplomacy & Statecraft, 22, no.2 (2011): 300–320.

¹³ Jeffry F. Taffet, ‘Latin America,’ in A Companion to John F. Kennedy, ed. Marc Selverstone (Chichester, 2014): 322-323.

¹⁴ Thomas Smith, Brazil and the United States: Convergence and Divergence (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010): 113–119.

¹⁵ See, for example, Weis, ‘Twilight of Pan-Americanism,’ 340.

¹⁶ Pereira also argues that 1963 was the key year when it comes to the U.S. decision for supporting Goulart’s overthrow. See Anthony Pereira, ‘The US Role in the 1964 Coup in Brazil: A Reassessment,’ Bulletin of Latin American Research, Published online: June 2016.

¹⁷ Felipe Loureiro, ‘The Alliance For or Against Progress? U.S.-Brazilian Financial Relations in the Early 1960s,’ Journal of Latin American Studies 46, no. 2 (May 2014): 326-333.

¹⁸ Vargas ruled Brazil for almost two decades (1930-1945, 1951-1954), being part as dictator (1937-1945). Strongly identified with the institutionalization of social rights to urban workers and the implementation of a nationalist economic policy on behalf of Brazil’s industrialization, Vargas profoundly shaped the Brazilian political system, drawing a line between those for and against his legacy. See Thomas Skidmore, Politics in Brazil, 1930-1964: An Experiment in Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

¹⁹ John Dulles, Unrest in Brazil. Political-Military Crisis, 1955-1964 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1970): 143-160; Thomas Skidmore, Politics in Brazil, ch.7.

²⁰ Abreu, ‘The Brazilian Economy,’: 352.

²¹ Felipe Loureiro, ‘Strikes in Brazil during the Government of João Goulart (1961–1964),’ Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 46, no.1 (2016): 76-94; Cliff Welch and Sérgio Sauer, ‘Rural Unions and the Struggle for Land in Brazil,’ Journal of Peasant Studies 42, no.6 (2015): 1113-1117.

²² Michael Weis, Cold Warriors, 153-155.

²³ Memo, Mapes, Jr. to Oechali, October 30, 1962, Records Relating to Brazil, 1954-1963 (hereafter RRB), folder ‘Folder ECO 3.6, Balance of Payment Assistance (April- November) 1962,’ Box 3, Record Group (hereafter RG) 59, National Archives at College Park (hereafter NARA).

²⁴ Telegram 832, Department of State to Rio de Janeiro, September 28, 1962, PP, NSF, Box 13, Folder ‘Brazil General, 9/62,’ JFKL.

²⁵ Letter, Roberto Campos to Octávio Gouveia de Bulhões, October 8, 1962, Arquivo Roberto Campos (hereafter ARC), RC d/bem 61.10.19, Folder 2, Centro de Documentação e Pesquisa em História Contemporânea, Fundação Getúlio Vargas (hereafter CPDOC-FGV).

²⁶ Memo, Edwin Martin to Dean Rusk, September 21, 1962, RRB, folder ‘CUL 8.2 – B.2,’ Box 2, RG 59, NARA.

²⁷ Letter, Roberto Campos to Herbert May, September 19, 1962, Arquivo Hermes Lima (hereafter AHL), HL c 62.09.19/2, CPDOC-FGV.

²⁸ Memorandum of Conversation, October 9, 1962, Classified General Records, Complied 1941 – 1963 (hereafter CGR), folder ‘500 – Alliance for Progress 1962,’ Box 135, RG 84, NARA.

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Telegram, Department of State to Rio de Janeiro, September 21, 1962, PP, NSF, Box 13, Folder ‘Brazil General, 9/62’; Telecom, Ball and Leedy, 26 September, 1962, Personal Papers of George Ball (hereafter PPGB), Box 1, Folder ‘Brazil 4/20/61 – 7/10/63,’ JFKL.

³¹ Telegram 682, Rio de Janeiro to Department of State, September 24, 1962, PP, NSF, Box 13, Folder ‘Brazil General, 9/62,’ JFKL.

³² James Hershberg, ‘The United States, Brazil, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (Part II), Journal of Cold War Studies 6, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 5-67.

³³ Leacock, Requiem for Revolution, 124-128; Rabe, The Most Dangerous, 68.

³⁴ Report, Interdepartmental Survey Group to President, November 3, 1962, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390, Folder ‘Brazil, 11/62 – 12/62’, JFKL, 13.

³⁵ Telegram 924, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 2, 1962, PP, President’s Office Files (hereafter POF), Country Files (hereafter CF), Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil Security, 1962,’ JFKL.

³⁶ Ibid.; Report 813, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, October 11, 1962, CGR, Box 136, Folder ‘501 – Financial Matters, July – Dec. 1962,’ RG 84, NARA.

³⁷ Telegram 924, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 2, 1962, JFKL.

³⁸ Report, Walt W. Rostow to Edwin Martin, November 14, 1962, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390, Folder ‘Brazil, 11/62 – 12/62,’ JFKL.

³⁹ Memo, H. Wellman to Edwin Martin, November 8, 1962, RRB, Box 3, Folder ‘Mis 5.d – Draper Team (1962),’ RG 59, NARA.

⁴⁰ Memo, Frank K. Sloan to Edwin Martin, November 14, 1962, RRB, Box 3, Folder ‘Mis 5.d – Draper Team (1962),’ RG 59, NARA.

⁴¹ Telegram 1147, Secretary of State to Rio de Janeiro, November 15, 1962, PP, POF, CF, Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil Security, 1962,’ JFKL.

⁴² Ibid.; Telegram 1148, Secretary of State to Rio de Janeiro, November 15, 1962, PP, POF, CF, Box 16, Folder ‘Brazil Security, 1962,’ JFKL.

⁴³ Report A-580, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, PP, CF, Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil General, 11/16/62-11/30/62,’ JFKL.

⁴⁴ Telegram 1001, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, PP, POF, CF, Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil Security 1962,’ JFKL.

⁴⁵ Ibid.

⁴⁶ Telegram 976, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962; PP, POF, CF, Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil Security 1962,’ JFKL.

⁴⁷ Telegram 1001, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.

⁴⁸ Telegram 976, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁴⁹ Telegram 1188, Secretary of State to Rio de Janeiro, November 27, 1962, PP, NSF, CF, Box 13, Folder ‘Brazil General 11/16/62-11/30/62,’ JFKL.

⁵⁰ Memorandum, Counterpoise to Brazilian Threat to Turn to the Soviet Bloc, Undated, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390, Folder ‘Brazil, Undated,’ JFKL.

⁵¹ Telegram 1072, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, December 3, 1962, PP, POF, CF, Box 13, Folder ‘Brazil General, 12/01/62-12/15/62’.

⁵² Telegram 976, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁵³ Telegram 1046, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 28, 1962, CRG, Box 135, Folder ‘500 – Financial Aid Brazil, 1962-1963,’ RG 84, NARA.

⁵⁴ Telegram 1072, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, December 3, 1962, JFKL.

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ Memorandum RAR-16, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, December, 1962, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390, Folder ‘Brazil, Undated’, JFKL.

⁵⁷ Ibid.

⁵⁸ Telegram 977, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, PP, POF, CF, Box 112, Folder ‘Brazil Security, 1962,’ JFKL.

⁵⁹ Ibid.; Telegram 976, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁶⁰ Telegram 977, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁶¹ Memorandum, National Security Council Executive Meeting, December 11, 1962 PP, NSF, Box 13, Brazil ‘General 12/1/62 – 12/15/62;’ Outline of Brazil Presentation, December 1962, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390, Brazil, ‘11/62 – 12/62,’ JFKL.

⁶² See Lincoln Gordon’s account of the meeting in Telegram A-710, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, December 19, 1962, PP, NSF, Box 13A, Folder ‘Brazil General, 12/16/62 – 12/31/62,’ JFKL.

⁶³ Telegram 977, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁶⁴ CIA Information Report no. (classified), Views of San Tiago Dantas, on Brazil-U.S. Co-operation and President Kennedy’s Tough Line, March 4, 1963, PP, NSF, CF, Box 13A, Folder ‘Brazil General, 3/1/63 – 3/11/63,’ JFKL.

⁶⁵ This is also true regarding some Latin American countries. For example, the Argentinean government argued it was not being fairly compensated in comparison to Brazil. See Dustin Walcher, ‘The Ordeal of Global Capitalism: U.S. Policy, Austerity, and Political Instability in Argentina, 1962-1963’ (paper presented at the annual international meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, Washington D.C., United States, June 25-27, 2015).

⁶⁶ ’Brazil’, Walt W. Rostow, 2 Oct. 1963, PP, NSF, RDF, Box 390A, Folder Brazil 7/63 and undated: JFKL: 3.

⁶⁷ Report A-580, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.

⁶⁸ James Hershberg, ‘A ‘Friend of the Revolution’ of a ‘Traitor’? Vasco Tristão Leitão da Cunha, Fidel Castro (and his Sister), and Brazilian-Cuban Relations, 1956-1964 (paper presented at the FLACSO-ISA Joint International Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 23-25 July, 2014): 3.

⁶⁹ Report A-580, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.

⁷⁰ After Vargas’ suicide in 1954, Goulart succeed Vargas as the leader of the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). For more information, see Skidmore, Politics in Brazil: chs 6-7.

⁷¹ Gerson Moura, Sucessos e ilusões. Relações internacionais do Brasil durante e após a 2º Guerra (Rio de Janeiro: FGV Editora, 1991): 20-1.

⁷² Stanley Hilton, ‘Brazilian Diplomacy and the Washington-Rio de Janeiro Axis during the World War II Era’, The Hispanic American Historical Review 59, no. 2 (May 1979): 201-231, 220-221.

⁷³ Samuel Wainer, Minha razão de viver, 10^th edition (Rio de Janeiro: Record, 1987): 235.

⁷⁴ Ângela Gomes and Jorge Ferreira, Jango: as múltiplas faces (Rio de Janeiro: FGV, 2007): 53.

⁷⁵ Ibid: 66.

⁷⁶ Telegram 1001, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.

⁷⁷ Telegram 977, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 19, 1962, JFKL.

⁷⁸ Memorandum for the President, July 17 1962, RRB, folder ‘Mis. 5.c. (9), Presidential Visit 1962, Postponed July Visit’, RG 59, NARA.

⁷⁹ Jornal do Brasil, October 18, 1962: 1. See also O Estado de São Paulo, October 19, 1962: 2.

⁸⁰ Report A-580, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.

⁸¹ Renato Colistete, ‘Trade Unions and the ICFTU in the Age of Developmentalism in Brazil, 1953–1962,’ Hispanic American Historic Review 92, no. 4 (Nov. 2012): 669–701.

⁸² Report A-580, Rio de Janeiro to Secretary of State, November 23, 1962, JFKL.