Recuperando o processo da legalidade em Santa Maria: coração do Rio Grande

Abstract

Brazil, in the beginning of its years 60, lived a situation of political instability when after only seven months of government Jânio Quadros gave up his mandate. For the Constitution, João Goulart, the vice, should assume the presidency automatically. However, that was not the understanding of the military ministers, which tried to unseat Jango before taking the power. Against that arbitrary attitude, he was formed a group that defended the execution of the Constitution. At that moment, General Machado Lopes, the 3rd Army commander joined to the current governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Leonel Brizola, who captained the Campaign of the Legality, in Rio Grande do Sul, in defense of the Presidency of Brazil by Jango. Therefore, this research turned on the Campaign of the Legality (1961) in the municipal district of Santa Maria and it had as objective to analyze the events happened in that City. In addition, it was attempted to show that the renouncement of Jânio, on August 25, 1961, caused great revolt and discomfort in several segments of the society especially among the politicians and that the situation tended to get worse concerning the blow intention for the military ministers. Starting from the attempt of impeding Jango of assuming the Presidency of the Republic, great part of the population of the city was brought together with the protected cause by Brizola and he had beginning so much a wide social agitation on the part of politicians, military, civil people. A great part of the population has engaged with the cause because they considered that legal and fair, specially in the University campus, where there was a great commotion in support to the campaign. That study allowed to work with sources of research places, tends as double interest, the valorization of the micro-history and the importance of the municipal collections and the archivist’s. Moreover, the tie of the period in study to the people who lived the peak of that conjuncture was made possible because of documental sources which were used - newspapers, registrations preserved in files and also oral sources that make possible the linkage between the studied period and the people that lived the edge of the events.