Washington Luís

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His Excellency Washington Luís
Official portrait, 1926
13th President of Brazil
In office 15 November 1926 – 24 October 1930
Vice President	Melo Viana
Preceded by	Artur Bernardes
Succeeded by	Military Junta Tasso Fragoso Isaías de Noronha Mena Barreto
Executive offices 1920–1924 Mayor of São Paulo 1906–1912 Secretary of Justice of São Paulo 1898–1899 Intendant of Batatais
Legislative offices 1925–1926 Senator for São Paulo 1912–1914 State Deputy of São Paulo 1904–1906 State Deputy of São Paulo 1897–1898 Councillor of Batatais
Personal details
Born	(1869-10-26)26 October 1869 PRP
Spouse	Sofia Paes de Barros ​ ​ (m. 1900; died 1934)​
Children	Florinda Rafael Luís Caio Luís Vítor Luís
Parents	Joaquim Luís Pereira de Sousa (father) Florinda Sá Pinto (mother)
Alma mater	Faculty of Law of Largo de São Francisco
Signature

Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation:

He was the leader of the situationists and again became a state representative for the Republican Party of São Paulo from 1912 to 1913. He interrupted his mandate to become mayor of São Paulo (1914–1919), when he faced the general strike of 1917. He was governor of the state of São Paulo from 1920 to 1924. In 1924, Luís led the 3rd Battalion organized in Batatais to fight the rebels of São Paulo, which in 1925 became the Miguel Costa-Prestes Column. From 1925 to 1926, Luís served as a senator for the PRP.

Through direct election, Luís went on to hold the Presidency of the Republic on 15 November 1926. He was deposed by the Revolution of 1930 on 24 October and went into exile in Europe and the United States, returning to Brazil after seventeen years in 1947. After returning from exile, he moved to São Paulo and devoted himself to historical studies. He was a worthy member of the philanthropic hospital Santa Casa de São Paulo; honorary president of the Brazilian Red Cross; member of the Institutes of History and Geography of São Paulo, Bahia and Ceará; member of the Academia Paulista de Letras; and member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute. The Rodovia Washington Luís in the state of São Paulo is named in his honor.

Throughout the 1920s, the Old Republic suffered a deep wear due to demonstrations of opposition from the urban middle class, the lieutenants' and workers' movements and dissident oligarchies. Early in his administration, came to an end the Prestes Column, with 620 men who went into Bolivian territory and subsequently dissolved. The government of Washington Luís was no longer threatened by the lieutenants' rebellions and for the advancement of the labor movement, however, to restrain new opposition movements he created Celerada Act in 1927, which imposed press censorship and restricted the right of assembly, leading to underground the Brazilian Communist Party, which had been recognized by the government earlier that year.

The global economic crisis of 1929, triggered with the stock market crash on 24 October, was the largest in the history of capitalism, reaching many countries and paralyzing economic activities. Its effects in Brazil overthrew the valuation policy of coffee, started in 1906 with the signing of the Taubaté Agreement. Coffee, which accounted for 70% of Brazilian exports, had its price reduced in the international market. The crisis threatened the stability of the government of Washington Luís, who did not allow the new currency devaluation, pleaded by farmers before the disaster on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Luís died in São Paulo on 4 August 1957.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Washington Luís.

• Newspaper clippings about Washington Luís in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW