Nilo Peçanha

For the municipality in Bahia, Brazil, see Nilo Peçanha, Bahia.

His Excellency
Nilo Peçanha
Official portrait, 1909
7th President of Brazil
In office
14 June 1909 – 14 November 1910
Vice PresidentNone
Preceded byAfonso Pena
Succeeded byHermes da Fonseca
Vice President of Brazil
In office
15 November 1906 – 14 June 1909
PresidentAfonso Pena
Preceded byAfonso Pena
Succeeded byVenceslau Brás
Other offices held
Minister of External Relations
In office
7 May 1917 – 15 November 1918
PresidentVenceslau Brás
Preceded byLauro Müller
Succeeded byDomício da Gama
President of Rio de Janeiro
In office
31 December 1914 – 7 May 1917
Vice PresidentFrancisco Guimarães
Preceded byOliveira Botelho
Succeeded byFrancisco Guimarães
In office
31 December 1903 – 1 November 1906
Vice PresidentOliveira Botelho
Preceded byQuintino Bocaiuva
Succeeded byOliveira Botelho
Senator for Rio de Janeiro
In office
3 May 1921 – 31 March 1924
Preceded byAlmeida Batista
Succeeded byJoaquim Moreira
In office
3 May 1912 – 31 December 1914
Preceded byOliveira Figueiredo
Succeeded byMiguel de Carvalho
In office
3 May 1903 – 29 December 1903
Preceded byRangel Pestana
Succeeded byOliveira Figueiredo
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
18 November 1890 – 30 December 1902
ConstituencyRio de Janeiro
Personal details
Born(1867-10-02)2 October 1867
Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Died31 March 1924(1924-03-31) (aged 56)
Rio de Janeiro, Federal District, Brazil
Political partyRio Republican Party
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1895)​
Children3
Alma materFaculty of Law of Recife
Signature

Nilo Procópio Peçanha (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈnilu pɾoˈkɔpju peˈsɐɲɐ]; 2 October 1867 – 31 March 1924) was a Brazilian politician who served as seventh president of Brazil. He was governor of Rio de Janeiro (1903–1906), then elected the fifth vice president of Brazil in 1906. He assumed the presidency in 1909 following the death of President Afonso Pena and served until 1910.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Despite controversies involving his racial identity, Peçanha is frequently considered as Brazil's first Afro-Brazilian president.[10]

Biography

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Nilo Peçanha was born to Sebastião de Sousa Peçanha, a baker, and Joaquina Anália de Sá Freire, the descendant of a wealthy and noble family from northern Rio de Janeiro Province. He was one of seven siblings (five boys and two girls). His family lived in a state of poverty in the remote and poor neighborhood of Morro do Coco, Campos dos Goytacazes, and moved to the downtown area when Peçanha started elementary education.

Nilo Peçanha at home in an amateur photo

He was frequently described as being a mulatto[1][2][3][7] and often ridiculed in the press for his skin color.[11][5][6] During his youth, the local Campos dos Goytacazes social elite alluded to him as the "mestiço do Morro do Coco" (the half-breed from Morro do Coco district).[4] In 1921, when he ran for the Presidency of Republic, letters falsely attributed to the other candidate Artur Bernardes were published by the press and caused a political crisis because they insulted both the former president Marshal Hermes da Fonseca and also Peçanha, another former president, claiming he was a mulatto. Gilberto Freyre mentioned his "mulatismo" in Brazilian politics as the same that prevailed in Brazilian soccer.[9] According to some scholars, his presidential photographs were touched up to whiten his dark skin.[5][12][13]

Some scholars assert that, despite his tez escura (dark skin color), Nilo Peçanha always hid his black origins, and to this day his descendants and family have denied that he was a mulatto.[14] The official biography written by a relative Celso Peçanha[8] does not mention his racial origins, but another later biography[1] does so, thus some scholars express doubts.[15] In any case, his origins were very humble: he used to claim that he had been raised on day-old bread and paçoca (a candy made with peanuts, cassava flour and sugar).[4]

After finishing his primary studies in his home city, Peçanha went on to study at the Law Schools of São Paulo and Recife, where he earned his degree. As a student, he supported both the campaign to abolish slavery and the establishment of the Republic.[citation needed]

Peçanha was married to Ana de Castro Belisário Soares de Sousa, also known as "Anita", the descendant of an aristocratic and wealthy family from his birth city. She was a daughter of lawyer João Belisário Soares de Souza and of Ana Rachel Ribeiro de Castro, who was herself a daughter of the Viscount of Santa Rita, one of the richest men in northern Rio de Janeiro State. The marriage was a social scandal since the bride escaped her house to marry her poor and "mulatto" groom, despite his status as a promising young politician.[4]

He worked as a lawyer and a university teacher in the Faculdade Livre de Direito do Rio de Janeiro.[citation needed]

Peçanha started his formal political career as an elected member of the first Republican Constituent Assembly in 1890. His political career advanced rapidly as a protégé of Campos Sales, who became President in 1898.[1] In 1903 he was successively elected Senator and then President (Governor) of the state of Rio de Janeiro, remaining in the latter position until 1906, when he was elected vice-president under President Afonso Pena.[citation needed] As Vice President, he also served as the President of the Senate.[16]

Pena died in 1909 while still in office and Peçanha assumed the presidency promising a government of Paz e Amor (Peace and Love). He was 41 years old, the youngest Brazilian president up until then.[17]

Nilo Peçanha in a postage stamp

His presidential government had many political troubles and Nilo Peçanha proved himself a man of wit and courage. The balance of power of the Brazilian República Velha (Old Republic) was a compromise of the governing elites of the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The deceased president, Afonso Pena, was elected with the support of this political alliance, but Peçanha assumed the presidency through being his vice-president and friction between the state oligarchies intensified. His government was also marked by friction with José Gomes Pinheiro Machado, the most powerful political leader of the Conservative Republican Party. Rui Barbosa started a run for the presidency promoting the "Campanha Civilista" (civilist campaign) against the Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, and attracted the opposition and discontent of the military. Federal intervention was required in the government of the Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas states.[17]

Peçanha was a man of sharp political wit who carved a practical and non-doctrinaire course between the positivists and the idealistic adherents of a pure Republican system that fought each other during the first decades of Brazilian Republic.[1] He was renowned for anticipating all the movements of his adversaries and achieving good political outcomes even when the odds were not favorable.[17]

During his presidency, Peçanha created the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, as well as the Indian Protection Service (SPI) and inaugurated the first system of technical schools in Brazil. He also began a basic sanitation program in the Baixada Fluminense region. He fought the excesses of workers in the public service and the high government expenditures that caused the elevation of taxes.[17]

Nilo Peçanha's last official photo

At the end of his mandate, he returned to the Senate and two years later was again elected President (Governor) for the state of Rio de Janeiro. He gave up this post in 1917 to take up the position of Minister of Foreign Relations and during his rule Brazil declared war against the Central Powers in World War I. In 1918, he was again elected to the Senate.

In 1921 he was a leader of the Republican Reaction Movement which had the goal of championing the politics of liberalism against those of the state oligarchies. His run for the presidency was supported by the state governments of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco, and also by a large part of the military. The campaign was fierce with mutual attacks and the famous case of letters falsely attributed to candidate Artur Bernardes which insulted the military and the former president Marshal Hermes da Fonseca. Brazil was divided and despite the strong support, Peçanha was defeated by Artur Bernardes, the pro-government candidate in the presidential election of 1922.

Peçanha died in 1924 in Rio de Janeiro, Federal District, retired from political life. His nephew, Celso Peçanha, later served as the acting Governor of Rio de Janeiro from 1961 to 1962.[18]

Ministers

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1 Agriculture, Industry and Trade Antônio Cândido Rodrigues
Francisco Sá
Rodolfo Nogueira da Rocha Miranda
2 Farm (Economy) José Leopoldo de Bulhões Jardim
3 War Luís Mendes de Morais
Carlos Eugênio de Andrade Guimarães
José Bernardino Bormann
4 Justice and Internal Affairs Augusto Tavares de Lira
Esmeraldino Olímpio Torres Bandeira
5 Navy Alexandrino Faria de Alencar
6 Foreign Affairs José Maria da Silva Paranhos Júnior
7 Road and Public Works Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida
Francisco Sá

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Griffin, Donald W. (1964). "Review of O Cardeal Leme, 1882-1942.; A vida de Nilo Pecanha., by Irmã Maria Regina do Santo Rosário & B. Tinoco". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 44 (3). Duke University Press: 437–439. doi:10.2307/2511892. JSTOR 2511892. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024 – via JSTOR.
  2. ^ a b ANDRADE, Manuel Correia de. A Civilização Açucareira. Recife:Biblioteca On-line do SEBRAE-PE. pp. 3[permanent dead link‍] (visited 8 August 2008)
  3. ^ a b CAMPOS, Diego de Souza Araújo. Um Estudo sobre a Escravidão em suas Relações com a Hierarquia Social: Heranças e Particularidades da Instituição Escravocrata. Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Sociais. Rio de Janeiro: PUC-Rio, setembro de 2007. pp. 61[permanent dead link‍] (visited 2 September 2008)
  4. ^ a b c d Vasconcellos, Francisco de (20 May 2001). "As Grandes Damas do Rio Negro na República Velha" [The Great Ladies of Rio Negro in the Old Republic]. Tribuna de Petrópolis (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  5. ^ a b c LUSTOSA, Isabel. As Trapaças da Sorte: Ensaios de História Política e de História Cultural. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 314 pages, 2004. Reviewed by Adelto Gonçalves. Elite "branca" no Brasil. Storm Magazine Archived 25 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine (visited 3 September 2008)
  6. ^ a b CARNEIRO, Cleverson Ribas. Mendes Fradique e seu Método Confuso: Sátira, Boemia e Reformismo Conservador. Tese de Doutorado em Letras. Curitiba: Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2008. pp. 148 (visited 3 September 2008)
  7. ^ a b PAIXÂO, Marcelo Jorge de Paula. Crítica da Razão Culturalista: relações raciais e a construção das desigualdades sociais no Brasil. Tese de Doutorado em Sociologia. Rio de Janeiro:Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro, abril de 2005. pp. 296[permanent dead link‍] (visited 3 September 2008)
  8. ^ a b NETO, Manoel. O Negro no Maranhão. São Luís: Clara Comunicação e Editora Ltda. 2004, p.73-79 apud Manoel Neto. Ninguém quer ser negro. Suplemento Cultural e Literário JP Guesa Errante, Ano III, Edição 82 Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine (visited 3 September 2008)
  9. ^ a b FREYRE, Gilberto. Football mulato, in Diário de Pernambuco, 17-6-1938 apud MARANHÂO, Tiago. Apolíneos e dionisíacos — o papel do futebol no pensamento de Gilberto Freyre a respeito do «povo brasileiro», in Análise Social, vol. XLI (179), 2006, pp. 441 Archived 30 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine (visited 3 September 2008)
  10. ^ Santos, Amando dos (22 February 2021). "Nilo Peçanha: o primeiro presidente negro do Brasil" [Nilo Peçanha: the first black president of Brazil]. SoCientífica (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 22 February 2021.
  11. ^ Beattie, Peter M. (26 September 2001). "Notes". The Tribute of Blood: Army, Honor, Race, and Nation in Brazil, 1864–1945. Latin America Otherwise. Duke University Press. p. 298. ISBN 9780822327431. ISSN 2691-6282. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2008 – via Google Books. [...] President Nilo Peçonha's African heritage was often parodied in political cartoons. [...]
  12. ^ Dagoberto José Fonseca, anthropology professor of Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) of Araraquara. In: Painéis resgatam negros ilustres, 'branqueados' pela história Archived 14 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine (visited 3 September 2008)
  13. ^ Muniz Sodré, journalist, writer and professor of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). In: Fabio Gomes. Muniz Sodré e a Cultura do Sentir. Brasileirinho, a sua página de Música Brasileira Archived 24 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine (visited 3 September 2008)
  14. ^ NASCIMENTO, Abdias; NASCIMENTO, Elisa Larkin. O negro e o Congresso brasileiro. In: MUNANGA, Kabengele. (Org.) História do negro no Brasil. v.1 Brasília:Fundação Palmares, 2004 apud DUARTE, Rebeca Oliveira. Nos Alicerces do Mundo: O dilema e a dialética na afirmação da identidade negra. Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciência Política. Recife: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, agosto de 2006; pág. 25[permanent dead link‍], and also apud Relatório de Desenvolvimento Humano – Racismo, Pobreza e Violência – Brasil 2005. Brasília: PNUD Brasil, pág. 28 (visited 3 September 2008)
  15. ^ Metráux, Alfred. "Brazil: Land of Harmony For all Races?" (PDF). UNESCO Courier. p. 3. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2008. When [Henry Koster, an English traveller in the 19th century] asked one of his friends whether a certain Capitão-mor [...] was a mulatto or not, he received the following reply: 'He was a mulatto once. But now he is not.'
  16. ^ "República Velha (1889–1930) - Senado Federal". www25.senado.leg.br.
  17. ^ a b c d Galeria de Presidentes do Período da República Velha (1889–1930) (visited 4 September 2008)
  18. ^ Neto, Arnaldo (14 July 2016). "Morre o ex-governador campista Celso Peçanha". Folha da Manhã. Retrieved 7 August 2016.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • KOIFMAN, Fábio, Organizador - Presidentes do Brasil, Editora Rio, 2001.
  • PEÇANHA, Celso, Nilo Peçanha e a Revolução Brasileira, Editora Civilização Brasileira, 1969.
  • SILVA, Hélio, Nilo Peçanha – 7º Presidente do Brasil, Editora Três, 1983.
  • SANTIAGO, Sindulfo, Nilo Peçanha, uma Época Política, Editora Sete, 1962.
  • TINOCO, Brígido, A Vida de Nilo Peçanha, Editora Jose Olympio, 1962.
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Preceded by Vice President of Brazil
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Preceded by President of Brazil
1909–1910 		Succeeded by
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