Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli

His Excellency Ranieri Mazzilli
23rd and 25th President of Brazil
In office 25 August 1961 – 8 September 1961
Vice President	None
Preceded by	Jânio Quadros
Succeeded by	João Goulart
In office 2 April 1964 – 15 April 1964
Vice President	None
Preceded by	João Goulart
Succeeded by	Castelo Branco
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 11 March 1958 – 24 February 1965
Preceded by	Ulysses Guimarães
Succeeded by	Olavo Bilac Pinto
Personal details
Born	Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli (1910-04-27)April 27, 1910 Caconde, São Paulo, Brazil
Died	April 21, 1975(1975-04-21) (aged 64) Caconde, São Paulo, Brazil
Political party	Social Democratic Party

Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli (Portuguese pronunciation: [pasˈkwaw ʁaniˈɛri maˈzili]; April 27, 1910 – April 21, 1975) was a Brazilian politician who was appointed as caretaker President of Brazil for two short terms, in 1961 and 1964.

Ranieri Mazzilli in the 1950s.

Life and career

Mazzilli was born at Caconde.^[1] His father was Domingos Mazzilli (born Domenico Mazzilli), an Italian from Montemurro, Basilicata, who immigrated to Brazil in 1892, at the age of 15; his mother, Angela Liuzzi,^[2] was also from Montemurro and emigrated to Brazil in 1889 at the age of 2. As the son of poor immigrants Mazzilli had a modest childhood and began to work at an early age.^[3]

Mazzilli entered the Faculty of Law of São Paulo in 1930 but did not complete his studies, working briefly as a tax collector in Taubaté. He fought in the Revolution of 1932, in São Paulo's side as a first lieutenant, soon promoted to captain in the Battalion Seven September, participating in the battle "Tunnel Front".^[4] After, in 1932, he began working as a journalist, specializing in financial matters. In 1940 he decided to continue his education, graduating in 1940 from the School of Law of Niterói (Fluminense Federal University). Mazzilli was the president of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil between 1958 and 1965. He assumed the Presidency for two weeks in August 1961 after the resignation of Jânio Quadros because the vice-president João Goulart was on an official visit in China. Goulart was also prevented by the military from assuming the presidency, being later allowed to take over under parliamentary regime.

The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état removed Goulart from power permanently. On April 1, 1964, after the deposition of Goulart, Mazzilli assumed the presidency for a further two weeks before Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco took power through indirect elections.

Due to the transitory nature of both administrations and the emergency situation that accompanied his two presidential terms, Mazzilli never played a relevant role in the Brazilian government, except in his conciliatory position, avoiding bloodshed in the 1964 coup military.^[5][6]

References

Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
Barros vacant (1930–1933) Ribeiro Aleixo vacant (1937–1946) Monteiro Duarte Cirilo Ramos Luz Flores Guimarães Mazzilli Pinto Cardoso Ramos Lafayette Freire Lopes Marcílio Borja Maciel Marcílio Marchesan Marcílio Guimarães Paes Pinheiro Oliveira Magalhães Temer Neves Cunha Lima Cavalcanti Rebelo Chinaglia Temer Maia Alves Cunha Maranhão Maia