Nereu Ramos

His Excellency Nereu Ramos
20th President of Brazil
In office 11 November 1955 – 31 January 1956
Vice President	None
Preceded by	Carlos Luz
Succeeded by	Juscelino Kubitschek
12th Vice President of Brazil
In office 19 September 1946 – 31 January 1951
President	Eurico Gaspar Dutra
Preceded by	Fernando de Melo Viana
Succeeded by	Café Filho
Minister of Justice and Interior Affairs
In office 31 January 1956 – 4 November 1957
President	Juscelino Kubitschek
Preceded by	Meneses Pimentel
Succeeded by	Eurico Sales
Minister of Education
In office 3 October 1956 – 4 November 1956
President	Juscelino Kubitschek
Preceded by	Celso Brant
Succeeded by	Clóvis da Gama
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 1 February 1951 – 1 February 1955
Preceded by	Carlos Cirilo Júnior
Succeeded by	Carlos Luz
President of the Federal Senate
In office 31 January 1946 – 31 January 1951
Preceded by	Valdomiro Magalhães
Succeeded by	Café Filho
Federal Intervenor in Santa Catarina
In office 16 November 1937 – 6 November 1945
Appointed by	Getúlio Vargas
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Luís Gallotti
13th Governor of Santa Catarina
In office 1 May 1935 – 16 November 1937
Preceded by	Aristiliano Ramos
Succeeded by	Aderbal Ramos da Silva
Personal details
Born	Nereu de Oliveira Ramos 3 September 1888 Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazilian Empire
Died	May 16, 1958 (aged 69) São José dos Pinhais, Paraná, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Political party	Social Democratic Party – PSD
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Nereu de Oliveira Ramos (Portuguese pronunciation: [neˈrew di oliˈvejrɐ ˈʁɐ̃mus]; 3 September 1888 – 16 June 1958) was a Brazilian political figure. He briefly served as President of Brazil in the aftermath of the political crisis which culminated in the suicide of President Getúlio Vargas.

Ramos was Vice President of the Republic between 1946 and 1951. The 1945 Presidential elections were held for the office of President only, but the Constitution adopted on 18 September 1946 created the office of Vice President, and established that the Constituent Assembly would choose the first Vice President and swear him in, in the day following the promulgation of the Constitution. Nereu Ramos, until then a Senator for Santa Catarina and a member of the Constituent Assembly, was elected Vice President in that special election. In his capacity as Vice President of the Republic, Ramos served as President of the Senate.

Ramos was re–elected in 1954 to the Federal Senate as a representative from Santa Catarina. He became the Senate's President pro tempore in the following year. By this stage President Getúlio Vargas had taken his own life. There followed a series of brief presidential reigns: Vargas's Vice President and successor, Café Filho, took a leave of absence, declaring himself unable to discharge the powers of the presidency due to poor health. By the time President Café Filho took his leave of absence, presidential elections for the next five–year term had been held, and Juscelino Kubitschek had been elected. Many people suspected that there would be a coup d'état to prevent the inauguration of the President–elect. Army Minister Henrique Teixeira Lott subscribed to that view, and he considered that President Café Filho had taken his leave of absence because he was in agreement with the supposed coup forces but unwilling to lead the coup himself. His leave of absence allowed the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Carlos Luz, to assume the presidency as Acting President, and Luz was seen as hostile to the inauguration of the President–elect and likely to lead a coup to prevent it. Thus, only 48 hours after Café Filho's declaration of incapacity and the assumption of the powers of the presidency by Carlos Luz, Army Minister Lott led what he called a preventive counter-coup aimed at securing the inauguration of the President–elect chosen by the people, by avoiding the supposed coup that Luz would allegedly lead. In that preventive counter-coup, Luz was deposed, Café Filho was prohibited from resuming the powers and duties of the presidency (although he was not deposed, he was kept under house arrest for the remaining three months of his presidential term, and was barred from declaring his incapacity terminated), and the next man in the line of presidential succession, Senator Nereu Ramos, the Senate's President pro tempore assumed the powers of the presidency in the place of Carlos Luz.

Ramos assumed the presidency on 11 November 1955, to complete Vargas's term. He served until January 31, 1956, whereupon President–elect Kubitschek was inaugurated. Ramos was the last President to have been born in the Empire of Brazil.

Nereu Ramos died in a Cruzeiro airline crash on 16 May 1958, near Curitiba Afonso Pena International Airport.

Gallery

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  President Nereu Ramos

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  Presidential photography

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  Statue in Lages, Santa Catarina

External links

• Presidents and Provisional Governments of the Republic