Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco ( ; September 20 , 1897 – July 18 , 1967 ) was a Brazilian military leader and politician . He served as President of Brazil after the 1964 military coup d ' etat . He was killed in an aircraft collision in July 1967 , soon after resigning his office . Family background . Castelo Branco was descended from a wealthy Northeastern Brazilian family . His father , Cândido Borges Castelo Branco , had also been a general . His mother , Antonieta Alencar Castelo Branco , came from an intellectual family ( which included the writer José de Alencar ) . Castelo Branco married Argentina Vianna , and had two children , Nieta and Paulo . Military career . Castelo Branco joined the Brazilian Army in 1918 . He was a student at a military school , the " Escola Militar de Realengo " ( in Rio Grande do Sul ) , then in 1921 he joined the 12th Infantry Regiment in Belo Horizonte . In 1927 , he returned to his military school as an infantry instructor . He was promoted to captain in 1938 . As a captain , he studied in England . He was made a lieutenant colonel in 1943 . During World War II , he was a colonel in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force which fought in Italy against Germany . He served as " Chief of the Operations Section " ( " " chefe de seção de operações " " ) and is said to have spent 300 days in combat zones . Castelo Branco subsequently wrote a large number of academic studies and treatises on the conduct of war . He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army by President João Goulart in 1963 and a marshal ( of reserves ) in 1964 . Political career . Castelo Branco became one of the leaders of the coup d ' etat of March 31 , 1964 that overthrew Goulart . On April 11 , Congress chose him to serve out the balance of Goulart ' s term . He took the oath of office on April 15 , 1964 Castelo Branco was the second Brazilian Field Marshal to become president of the nation through a coup d ' état — the first was Deodoro da Fonseca , who deposed the monarchic government of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil in 1889 . Castelo Branco ’ s government , differently from previous directly elected presidents Juscelino Kubitschek , Jânio Quadros and João Goulart , was bankrolled from the start by the credits and loans from World Bank , International Monetary Fund and massive investment from multinational American companies , which saw the Brazilian right - wing military dictatorship as a new , economically stable Western ally against international communism — mainly in Latin America — during the Cold War . Castelo Branco was vested with emergency powers under the First Institutional Act , which among other things allowed him to cancel the political rights of " subversive elements " for ten years . However , he was otherwise committed to permitting normal political activities while carrying out reform through legislation . He also had every intention of turning over power to a popularly elected president when Goulart ' s term was due to run out in 1966 . However , several extreme right - wing civilian and military elements felt the military needed to stay in power for a number of years in order to root out subversion . Events reached a breaking point in October 1965 , when opposition candidates won the governorships of the major states of Minas Gerais and Guanabara . The extremists demanded that Castelo Branco annul the results , but he refused . A coup was only averted when War Minister Artur Da Costa e Silva persuaded the extremists to let the results stand in return for Castelo Branco ' s promise to take a tougher line . Thereafter , Castelo Branco dropped all pretense of democracy . On October 27 , he issued the Second Institutional Act , which abolished all existing political parties , restored his emergency powers , and extended his term to 1967 . The numerous parties were replaced with only two : the pro - government National Renewal Alliance Party ( ARENA ) and the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement ( MDB ) . In 1967 , he convened an extraordinary commission of jurists that crafted a highly authoritarian constitution . He issued many repressive laws , most notably a highly draconian press law ( " Lei de Imprensa " ) near the end of his term . This law continued to be valid in Brazil until 2009 , when it was struck down by Brazil ’ s Supreme Federal Court . He was succeeded by Costa e Silva . He promoted government intervention into the economy ( e . g . , shutting down by decree the country ' s flag carrier , Panair do Brasil ) and tributary reforms . Death . Six months after leaving the presidency , Castelo Branco died in a midair collision of small aircraft near Fortaleza .