Tancredo de Almeida Neves (Portuguese pronunciation: [tɐ̃ˈkɾedu dʒi awˈmejdɐ ˈnɛvis]) (4 March 1910 – 21 April 1985) was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, President of the Council of Ministers from 1961 to 1962, Minister of Finance in 1962, and as Governor of Minas Gerais from 1983 to 1984. He was elected President of Brazil in 1985, but died before taking office; the vice-president-elect, José Sarney, took office as president in his place.
Neves began his political career with the Progressive Party of Minas Gerais, for whom he served as city councilman of São João del-Rei from 1935 to 1937. He received the majority of votes and became President of the Municipal Legislature. He was elected state representative (1947–1950) and congressman (1951–1953) as a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He took office in June 1953, acting as Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs until the suicide of President Getúlio Vargas.
In 1954, Neves was elected congressman and served for one year. From 1956 to 1958 he was director of Banco de Crédito Real de Minas Gerais and President of Carteira de Redescontos of Banco do Brasil from 1956 to 1958. From 1958 to 1960 he headed the Department of Finance of Minas Gerais. Neves was nominated President of the Council of Ministers after President Jânio Quadros resigned and the introduction of the Parliamentary Regime in 1961 and was re-elected congressman in 1963.
He was a leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), a political party created on 27 October 1965 through the Institutional Act Number Two (AI-2) which abolished all existing parties and the institution of bi-partisanship. He was later re-elected congressman several times between 1963 and 1979. After the re-institution of a multiparty system, Neves became a senator as a member of the MDB in 1978 and founded the Popular Party (PP) with which he continued to serve until 1982. He joined the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) the following year and was elected governor of Minas Gerais where he served from 1983 to 1984. During this period, there was great political turmoil in favour of the movement known as Diretas Já, a civil action that mobilized the youth and proclaimed direct elections for president. But with the defeat of the "Dante de Oliveira amendment", which would have mandated direct elections for president in 1984, Neves was chosen to represent the Democratic Alliance, a coalition of opposition parties.
In 1984, Neves ran for president with the help of Ulysses Guimarães, and was elected President of Brazil on 15 January 1985 by the indirect voting of an electoral college. However, Neves fell gravely ill on the eve of his inauguration, 14 March 1985, and died 38 days afterwards. He died of diverticulitis and never assumed his position as president. While still ill, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of the Valour, Loyalty and Merit. Although he died before taking his post as president, his name has been included in the gallery of Brazilian presidents according to law nº 7.465/1986, passed on the first anniversary of his death. Neves was the last Mineiro (from the State of Minas Gerais) President to be elected in the 20th century.
Neves was one of the most important Brazilian politicians in the 20th century and one of the major statesmen of Brazilian history. In July 2012 he was elected one of the 100 Greatest Brazilians of All Time in a competition organized by Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Tancredo Neves was born at 3:30 BRT on 4 March 1910 in São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais and was of mostly Portuguese, but also Austrian descent and graduated in law. The Neves family name comes from an Azorean great-great-grandfather. Tancredo Neves was a descendant of Amador Bueno, a noted paulista from the colonial Brazilian era.
His parents were Francisco de Paula Neves and Antonina de Almeida Neves. After completing studies in his hometown, he moved to Belo Horizonte and enrolled in Law School. He was a sympathizer of the Liberal Alliance that had brought Getúlio Vargas to power with the outbreak of the Revolution of 1930.
Neves studied at Colégio Santo Antônio, a Franciscan school, concluding his studies in humanities in 1927. In 1928 he began studies at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Law, in 1932 and was a public prosecutor in 1933.
He began his political career as a member of the legislative chamber of his hometown in 1934, and was elected in 1947 to the Minas Gerais state legislature. Three years later he became a representative of his state in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. In 1953 he was appointed Minister of Justice by President Getúlio Vargas. Neves served in that post until Vargas committed suicide in 1954. In 1960, Neves ran unsuccessfully for governor of Minas Gerais.
Neves was married to Risoleta Guimarães Tolentino and they had three children. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Coimbra, and was called "Doctor Tancredo" by his close colleagues. He is the grandfather of Aécio Neves, who was Minas Gerais's governor between 2003 and 2010 and is currently a senator.
During the Old Republic, Neves opposed Artur Bernardes, president of Brazil. He was launched into politics through the municipal political leader Augusto Viegas, to whom he remained grateful. In 1984, when asked about the political parties he belonged to by the newspaper Pasquim, he explained that he had chosen his parties, like everyone from Minas Gerais did, according to municipal issues.
He joined the Progressive Party (PP) of Minas Gerais, party which was formed by members of the Mineiro Republican Party, who supported the Revolution in 1930. Later, when the Progressive Party was extinct, he joined the Mineiro Nationalist Party.
Neves was not able to finance his candidacy as state representative in 1934, but he was elected São João del Rei's city councilman in 1935 and president of the City Council when he became the mayor. After the closure of the municipalities and the institution of the "New State" on 10 November 1937, Neves was the President of São João del Rei's Board of Councilmen.
After concluding his term of office as city councilman, Neves returned to advocacy and was an attorney for his city's railway union. He was also an entrepreneur in the textile sector for some time. According to the newspaper Pasquim, Governor Benedito Valadares invited him to become chief of police in Belo Horizonte, but declined, saying he would not serve dictatorships.
State legislator and federal minister
Feeling pressured by the international conjuncture dictated by the imminent victory of the allies during World War II, and susceptible to internal pressure and contestation, President Getúlio Vargas cranked up a stratagem to liberate the New State. With that, the political framework that had been erected under auspicious democrats saw a new political college emerge.
On 8 April 1945, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) was created in Minas Gerais and was controlled by Benedito Valadares, who had been nominated as federal intervener of Minas Gerais on 15 December 1933. He governed until Getúlio Vargas was deposed on 29 October 1945. His fall opened way to the elections for president of the republic and for members of the National Constituent Assembly on 2 December of the same year. The Assembly proclaimed the new Constitution on 18 September 1946. Once the Constitution was in force, there were elections for state governor and members of the National Congress and state legislature in January 1947.