Epitácio Pessoa

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Epitácio Pessoa" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

His Excellency Epitácio Pessoa
Official portrait, 1919
11th President of Brazil
In office 28 July 1919 – 15 November 1922
Vice President	Delfim Moreira (1919–1920) None (Jul–Nov 1920) Bueno de Paiva (1920–1922)
Preceded by	Delfim Moreira
Succeeded by	Artur Bernardes
Executive offices 1900–1901 Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs 1889–1890 Secretary General of Paraíba
Legislative offices 1912–1919 Senator for Paraíba 1890–1893 Federal Deputy for Paraíba
Judicial offices 1923–1930 Justice of the Supreme Federal Court 1902–1905 Prosecutor General of the Republic
Diplomatic offices 1918–1919 Chief of the Brazilian Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference
Personal details
Born	(1865-05-23)23 May 1865 Republican Party of Minas Gerais
Spouses	Francisca Justina das Chagas ​ ​ (m. 1894; died 1895)​ Maria da Conceição de Manso Sayão ​ ​ (m. 1898)​
Relations	Recife Law School
Signature

Epitácio Lindolfo da Silva Pessoa (Portuguese pronunciation:

into control of the federal government.

In addition to his term as president, Pessoa served as

.

In 1921, President Epitácio Pessoa, concerned about causing a geopolitical faux pas, is known for having banned any non-white players from Brazil national football team.^[1][2]

Epitácio Pessoa was born in

.

Young Epitácio managed to make the acquaintance of Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca through the connections of his eldest brother José. With the proclamation of the Brazilian Republic he was invited by governor Venâncio Neiva to serve as secretary-general of the first republican government of Paraíba. He was a deputy to the constituent assembly from 1890 to 1891, during which time he was noted as a standout figure. By the time he was twenty-five years old, he was already noted as an accomplished jurist.

During his time in the Constituent Assembly, Pessoa gave an outstanding speech in which he articulated the political responsibilities of the President of the Republic. In 1894, he resolved to abandon politics because of his disagreements with then-president Floriano Peixoto. After marrying Maria da Conceição Manso Saião, he left for Europe.

After his return to Brazil he became Minister of Justice in the government of

of the Republic. Levi Carneiro, in his "Livro de um Advogado", notes that as a justice Pessoa never voted in favor of any case in which he had been assigned to elaborate the views of the court.

Elected as a

for his home state of Paraíba in 1911, Pessoa then moved to Europe, where he lived until 1914. Returning to Brazil, he would soon assume the post of realtor for the Commission for the Verification of Powers.

With the end of the

that had been stored in European ports and the fate of 70 German ships seized by Brazil during the war.

Pessoa disputed the succession of

.

There is another view of this election, however: the belief that after the death of Rodrigues Alves the elite of Minas Gerais and São Paulo wanted to choose a new candidate from outside their own ranks. That Artur Bernardes of Minas Gerais was elected president in the next election supports the conspiracy theory that the oligarchies had never lost control in the intervening years.

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Brazil had greatly improved its financial situation over the course of the First World War. The industrialized countries had been forced to concentrate all of their resources towards the arms industry. Brazil exported raw materials at compensatory prices and enlarged its industrial base, manufacturing products that were previously imported. With the end of the war, Europe began to rehabilitate its industries. At the same time, Brazil was plagued with a number of workers strikes, and the business community along with the coffee-growers tried to reimpose their control. In response to these events, Pessoa introduced a program of austere financial planning. Nevertheless, the pressures on the State continued to grow. New loans, totaling nine million

.

Pessoa did not escape from the intrigues of state politics and used the federal government to intervene on behalf of state-based interest groups in return for support in Congress. He was embroiled in one of the most troubled periods in the history of the Old Republic with the outbreak of the

tenentes

) of the Armed Forces called for profound political reforms.

Crisis of the fake letters

In 1921, the Correio de Manhã published letters supposedly sent by Artur Bernardes and Raul Soares de Moura that contained insults towards the Armed Forces and Marshal Hermes da Fonseca. A commission attested to the veracity of this correspondence. A year later, Bernardes claimed victory in the presidential elections. In response, the Military Club and the noted politician Borges de Medeiros called for the creation of a court of honor to review the legitimacy of Bernardes' election. The Federal Congress reviewed the election results and declared them legitimate.

Pessoa's principal acts as president were the following:

• The construction of more than 200 dams in Northeast (Considered the largest accomplishment of his government).
• The creation of the University of
  Universidade do Paraná
  had been created almost a decade before, in 1912.
• The commemoration of the first centenary of independence.
• The opening of the first radio station in Brazil.
• The substitution of the pound for the dollar as the basis of the nation's monetary standard.
• The construction of more than 1000 km of
  railroads
  in the south of Brazil.
• The nomination of a civilian – the historian Pandiá Calógeras – for Minister of War.
• The defeat of the 18 of the Fort of Copacabana Revolt.
• Successful inroads into creating public works to lessen the droughts of the Northeast region.
• Abolished the law that banished the
  Brazilian Imperial Family
  from national territory.

After leaving the presidency, Epitácio Pessoa was elected to be a Justice of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague, and stayed on the bench until November 1930. From 1924 until the Revolution of 1930, he was a senator for Paraíba. He supported the revolution, which implemented the ideals of earlier army revolts. The assassination of his nephew João Pessoa was a strong emotional blow to Epitácio, and in its aftermath he retired from public life. In 1937, he began to show signs of declining health. He developed Parkinson's disease and severe heart problems. Epitácio Pessoa would live until 13 February 1942, when he died in Nova Betânia, part of Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro). In 1965 his remains, along with those of his wife, were transported to João Pessoa, Paraíba, for reinterment.

Pessoa was the patron of chair no. 31 of the Academia Paraibana de Letras, which was founded by Father Francisco Lima. It is currently occupied by Angela Bezerra de Castro.

Vice-presidents

• Delfim Moreira
• Francisco Álvaro Bueno de Paiva

Ministers

• Agriculture, Industry and Commerce: Ildefonso Simões Lopes, José Pires do Rio – intern
• Finance: Homero Batista
• War: Alfredo Pinto Vieira de Melo – intern, João Pandiá Calógeras, João Pedro da Veiga Miranda – intern
• Justice: Alfredo Pinto Vieira de Melo, Joaquim Ferreira Chaves – intern
• Navy: Raul Soares de Moura, Joaquim Ferreira Chaves, João Pedro da Veiga Miranda
• Foreign Relations: José Manuel de Azevedo Marques
• Transport and Public Works: José Pires do Rio

• __________ Perfis Parliamentares 07 – Epitácio Pessoa, Editora Câmara dos Deputados, 1978.
• __________ Bacharel Epitácio Pessoa e o Glorioso Levante Militar de 5 de Julho, Editora S / E, 1922.
• __________ 1º Centenário de Nascimento de Epitácio Pessoa, Editora A União, 1965.
• Gabaglia, Joao Scott, Matheus Castello 1865–1942, Editora José Olympio, 1951.
• Koifman, Fábio, Organizador – Presidentes do Brasil, Editora Rio, 2001.
• Pessoa, Epitácio, Obras Completas, Editora Instituto Nacional do Livro, 1955.
• Pessoa, Mário, Legalismo e Coragem em Epitácio Pessoa, Editora Imprensa Universitária, 1965.
• Melo, Fernando, Epitácio Pessoa uma Biografia, Editora Idéia, 2005.
• Silva, Hélio, Epitácio Pessoa 11º Presidente do Brasil, Editora Três, 1984.
• Valadão, Haroldo, Epitácio Pessoa Jurista da Codificação Americana do Direito Internacional, Rio de Janeiro, 1977.
• Zenaide, Hélio Nóbrega, Epitácio Pessoa, Editora A União, 2000.

• Presidente Epitácio, a municipality in the state of São Paulo

• List of presidents of Brazil

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Epitácio Pessoa.

• O governo Epitácio Pessoa no sítio oficial da Presidência da República do Brasil
• Mensagem ao Congresso Nacional de 1920 Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Mensagem ao Congresso Nacional de 1921 Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Mensagem ao Congresso Nacional de 1922 Archived 2008-04-24 at the Wayback Machine

Political offices
Preceded by Delfim Moreira	President of Brazil 1919–1922	Succeeded by Artur Bernardes