João Mangabeira
My sons and daughters and a few nephews and nieces asked me to tell them stories of my family. Since we are in relative confinement for the COVID-19 virus, we had a live meeting through, that was very. I thought that it would be a good idea to retell this live meeting in my blog. I have already written about Francisco Mangabeira, now I will talk about João Mangabeira.
Francisco Cavalcanti Mangabeira, my great-grandfather, was a pharmacist, married to Augusta Mangabeira. They had many children. The eldest daughter was called as “Pepé”, I do not know her rel name. But I know that she became a nun and was the Mother Superior of a convent in São Luís do Maranhão. There were three other daughters, Vina (Lavínia), Maria and Cecília (my grandmother). Francisco Mangabeira was one year older than João. The younger ones were Carlos, that the family called Yoyo, and Octavio.
João was born in Salvador in June 26, 1880.
When he was 13 years old he joined the Bahia School of Law. At that time the university students used to wear a formal day dress, and João asked his parents to buy one for him. He was small and his parents tried, in vain, to convince him that it was not a good idea. But he insisted and the formal dress was made. When he walked to the Law School, children in the streets would hold the tips of his coat, making it difficult for him to reach the school.
In spite of the fact that the family had financial difficulties, he succeed in graduating when he was 17 years old.
João had a photographic memory. Once, in a literary seance he heard a student reciting a self-written poem. João stood up and said: “This is plagiarism. The poem’s author contested it. “It is not plagiarism, I wrote it.” John said, “I will prove to you that it is plagiarism.” And he recited again the whole poem. But seeing the student’s despair, he apologized and stated that he had simply memorized the poem.
After his graduation he went to work in Ilhéus, a seaside city south of Salvador. For a while he had no clients. But one day he was at the court, watching the development of several cases, when the judge ordered him to become the defense attorney of a poor man who had no lawyer. João had not read the process, but he memorized the DA’s report, including the names, pages and other details. When the DA concluded his accusations, João simply destroyed them, showing inconsistencies and contradictions, correcting names and indicating pages of the process that he had not read. The defendant was absolved. And from that day the city began to believe in the very young lawyer and he began to have clients.
Throughout Brazil, at that time, politics were controlled by powerful people who were known as “colonels”.The colonels of Ilhéus liked João and gave him prestige. In 1908 he was elected Mayor of Ilhéus; he was then 28 years old. Some people believe that Mundinho – a character of Jorge Amado’s “Gabriella, Clove and Cinnamon” – was inspired on João.
It was in Ilhéus that he married Yayá, a young widow that had two children, Paulo and Carmen. Both of them later adopted the surname Mangabeira. Their son Francisco (Chiquito) was born in 1909. Since there were several Franciscos in the family, each one was called differently: the poet was Chico, Francisquinho was my father’s brother and Chiquito was João’s son.
Soon afterwards João was elected as a state congressman and then as a federal congressman. An electoral campaign – Campanha Civilista – was created in 1910, under the presidency of Rui Barbosa. As a congressman João and Rui got together frequently and João became Rui’s disciple.
Rui died in 1923, and it was João who made a speech to honor him. At Rui Barbosa’s centenary of birth, in 1949, João was the official speaker in Congress. One of his most famous books is called “Rui, o Estadista da República” (Rui, the Statesman of the Republic).
Chiquito, in his teens, became a communist. João had serious discussions with his son and then both became socialists.
From 1937 to 1945 Brazil became a dictatorship. The dictator, Getulio Vargas, ordered João to arrested and he remained in jail for 15 months. It was while he was arrested that he created a legal mechanism that still exists in Brazilian law, called “mandado de segurança” (safety mandate), which he used to get out of his prison.
Em 1944 the students of the last year of the Bahia School of Law invited João to be the student’s orator at their graduation ceremony. On the day of the graduation General Pinto Aleixo, designated by Getulio Vargas to govern the state of Bahia, sent a soldier to obtain a copy of João’s speech. João stated that he had not written anything, that his speech was in his head. The speech was going to be transmitted by radio to all Brazil, but Pinto Aleixo ordered the interruption of the radio transmission, so that only the people present could hear the speech. On the following day, however, by means of his extraordinary memory, he wrote the full speech and had it published in a newspaper with a large circulation.
At the end of Estado Novo, João created the Esquerda Democrática (ED – Democratic Left), an appendix of União Democrática Nacional (UDN – National Democratic Union), a political party created in 1945. On the following year ED became a political party, called Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB – Brazilian Socialist Party), of which João became president.
In 1950 there was a national president election and João was the candidate of the Socialist party. The election was on by Getulio Vargas. João had only 9,466 votes. On a newspaper interview he explained why he had been a candidate: “The socialists had a serious problem, they had no candidate to vote. All of the candidates had had talks, confabulations or bargains with the Brazilian Integralism Party”.
When Brazilian President Jânio Quadros renounced on August 25, 1961) Brazil entered a period of political instability. The Vice-President was Jango Goulart, but the army forces stipulated that the new government should be parliamentary, otherwise they would not allow Jango to be empowered as President. The parliamentarist goverment faced many problems. The First Minister Tancredo Neves renounced in June 1962, being replaced by Francisco Brochado da Rocha, who designated João Mangabeira for the Ministry of Mines and Energy. To months later Goulart reorganized his ministry. João Goulart organized a national election for the voters we to state whether they were in favor of maintaining the parliamentary government or make it again presidential. In September the Congress set the date of the election to January 6, 1963. The Congress also authorised the President to change his ministry. Hermes Lima became the First Minister and João became the Minister of Justice and Interior Business. The election gave more votes to presidential government and Goulart again changed his ministry. But he kept João as Minister of Justice. On June 7, 1963, however, João renounced his post.
During Goulart’s government, João’s son, Francisco Mangabeira (Chiquito) was the President of Petrobrás, the Brazilian oil organization.
João passed away in Rio de Janeiro, on April 27, 1964, less than a month after the revolution that expelled Goulart and started a military dictatorship.
João was a great jurist, an extraordinary politician and an important writer. In spite of being a socialist, he never lost his larger view of political perspective.
I once asked him if he felt that Brazil should have a socialist government. “Not at all ” he said. “The only thing we could do would be to socialize poverty”.
In 1990 the Brazilian Socialist Party created the João Mangabeira Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of formulating socialist public politics.
Francisco Cavalcanti Mangabeira, my great-grandfather, was a pharmacist, married to Augusta Mangabeira. They had many children. The eldest daughter was called as “Pepé”, I do not know her rel name. But I know that she became a nun and was the Mother Superior of a convent in São Luís do Maranhão. There were three other daughters, Vina (Lavínia), Maria and Cecília (my grandmother). Francisco Mangabeira was one year older than João. The younger ones were Carlos, that the family called Yoyo, and Octavio.
João was born in Salvador in June 26, 1880.
 |
| João Mangabeira |
When he was 13 years old he joined the Bahia School of Law. At that time the university students used to wear a formal day dress, and João asked his parents to buy one for him. He was small and his parents tried, in vain, to convince him that it was not a good idea. But he insisted and the formal dress was made. When he walked to the Law School, children in the streets would hold the tips of his coat, making it difficult for him to reach the school.
In spite of the fact that the family had financial difficulties, he succeed in graduating when he was 17 years old.
João had a photographic memory. Once, in a literary seance he heard a student reciting a self-written poem. João stood up and said: “This is plagiarism. The poem’s author contested it. “It is not plagiarism, I wrote it.” John said, “I will prove to you that it is plagiarism.” And he recited again the whole poem. But seeing the student’s despair, he apologized and stated that he had simply memorized the poem.
After his graduation he went to work in Ilhéus, a seaside city south of Salvador. For a while he had no clients. But one day he was at the court, watching the development of several cases, when the judge ordered him to become the defense attorney of a poor man who had no lawyer. João had not read the process, but he memorized the DA’s report, including the names, pages and other details. When the DA concluded his accusations, João simply destroyed them, showing inconsistencies and contradictions, correcting names and indicating pages of the process that he had not read. The defendant was absolved. And from that day the city began to believe in the very young lawyer and he began to have clients.
Throughout Brazil, at that time, politics were controlled by powerful people who were known as “colonels”.The colonels of Ilhéus liked João and gave him prestige. In 1908 he was elected Mayor of Ilhéus; he was then 28 years old. Some people believe that Mundinho – a character of Jorge Amado’s “Gabriella, Clove and Cinnamon” – was inspired on João.
It was in Ilhéus that he married Yayá, a young widow that had two children, Paulo and Carmen. Both of them later adopted the surname Mangabeira. Their son Francisco (Chiquito) was born in 1909. Since there were several Franciscos in the family, each one was called differently: the poet was Chico, Francisquinho was my father’s brother and Chiquito was João’s son.
Soon afterwards João was elected as a state congressman and then as a federal congressman. An electoral campaign – Campanha Civilista – was created in 1910, under the presidency of Rui Barbosa. As a congressman João and Rui got together frequently and João became Rui’s disciple.
Rui died in 1923, and it was João who made a speech to honor him. At Rui Barbosa’s centenary of birth, in 1949, João was the official speaker in Congress. One of his most famous books is called “Rui, o Estadista da República” (Rui, the Statesman of the Republic).
Chiquito, in his teens, became a communist. João had serious discussions with his son and then both became socialists.
From 1937 to 1945 Brazil became a dictatorship. The dictator, Getulio Vargas, ordered João to arrested and he remained in jail for 15 months. It was while he was arrested that he created a legal mechanism that still exists in Brazilian law, called “mandado de segurança” (safety mandate), which he used to get out of his prison.
Em 1944 the students of the last year of the Bahia School of Law invited João to be the student’s orator at their graduation ceremony. On the day of the graduation General Pinto Aleixo, designated by Getulio Vargas to govern the state of Bahia, sent a soldier to obtain a copy of João’s speech. João stated that he had not written anything, that his speech was in his head. The speech was going to be transmitted by radio to all Brazil, but Pinto Aleixo ordered the interruption of the radio transmission, so that only the people present could hear the speech. On the following day, however, by means of his extraordinary memory, he wrote the full speech and had it published in a newspaper with a large circulation.
At the end of Estado Novo, João created the Esquerda Democrática (ED – Democratic Left), an appendix of União Democrática Nacional (UDN – National Democratic Union), a political party created in 1945. On the following year ED became a political party, called Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB – Brazilian Socialist Party), of which João became president.
In 1950 there was a national president election and João was the candidate of the Socialist party. The election was on by Getulio Vargas. João had only 9,466 votes. On a newspaper interview he explained why he had been a candidate: “The socialists had a serious problem, they had no candidate to vote. All of the candidates had had talks, confabulations or bargains with the Brazilian Integralism Party”.
When Brazilian President Jânio Quadros renounced on August 25, 1961) Brazil entered a period of political instability. The Vice-President was Jango Goulart, but the army forces stipulated that the new government should be parliamentary, otherwise they would not allow Jango to be empowered as President. The parliamentarist goverment faced many problems. The First Minister Tancredo Neves renounced in June 1962, being replaced by Francisco Brochado da Rocha, who designated João Mangabeira for the Ministry of Mines and Energy. To months later Goulart reorganized his ministry. João Goulart organized a national election for the voters we to state whether they were in favor of maintaining the parliamentary government or make it again presidential. In September the Congress set the date of the election to January 6, 1963. The Congress also authorised the President to change his ministry. Hermes Lima became the First Minister and João became the Minister of Justice and Interior Business. The election gave more votes to presidential government and Goulart again changed his ministry. But he kept João as Minister of Justice. On June 7, 1963, however, João renounced his post.
During Goulart’s government, João’s son, Francisco Mangabeira (Chiquito) was the President of Petrobrás, the Brazilian oil organization.
João passed away in Rio de Janeiro, on April 27, 1964, less than a month after the revolution that expelled Goulart and started a military dictatorship.
João was a great jurist, an extraordinary politician and an important writer. In spite of being a socialist, he never lost his larger view of political perspective.
I once asked him if he felt that Brazil should have a socialist government. “Not at all ” he said. “The only thing we could do would be to socialize poverty”.
In 1990 the Brazilian Socialist Party created the João Mangabeira Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of formulating socialist public politics.
Comments
Post a Comment