Tenentismo in the Brazilian Revolution of 1930
BRAZIIANS OF THE 1930's agreed that the radical movement of young army officers and politicians known as tenentismo dominated the first two years, or radical phase, of the Vargas era (1930-1945). Whether praised or attacked, the tenentes (lieutenants) were usually assigned central roles in the Revolution of 1930 and in the political and social transformations which followed. Now that the Revolution is attaining historical perspective, and recently published memoirs and biographies have shed new light on the tenentes, it is appropriate to re-examine their program, organization, political tactics, and strategy. This article seeks to establish the relationship of the tenentes to other interest groups, including the entrenched military bureaucracy, and to evaluate their capabilities as officials in the central and state governments that evolved out of the Revolution of 1930. On November 3, 1930, in uniform, wearing a red scarf and a large gaucho hat, Getulio Vargas accepted supreme power as head of a new provisional government. His prospects of success were not auspicious. An unexpected coup d'e'tat by the army had robbed his forces of a clear military mandate while indebting his future administration to the professional soldiers of the armed forces. The frenzied, politically inarticulate crowds which roared their approval of his political victory hardly signified a firm popular basis for his "revolution." The makeshift coalition of conservative, liberal, and radical elements called the Liberal Alliance had supported him on his triumphal march to the capital, but it could not be depended upon to provide lasting political support. The nation's shaky financial structure and the threatened total collapse of the international coffee market confronted the new president with another set of potential enemies. Coffee growers, foreign creditors, and the governments supporting them waited impatiently for him to tip his hand. Labor, although still in its formative stage, grew restless as unemployment spread from the cities to the countryside. In this confused situation Vargas,