Pascoal Ranieri Mazzilli (; 27 April 1910 – 21 April 1975) was a Brazilian politician who served as Federal Deputy from 1951 to 1967 and President of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

(speaker of the house) from 1958 to 1965. During his term as speaker of the house, he served twice as interim

president of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

for a few weeks, first in 1961, after the resignation of

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; January 25, 1917 – February 16, 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and Politics of Brazil, politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from January 31 to August 25, 1961, when he resigned from office. He als ...

(as vice-president

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...

was outside the country), and again in 1964, after Goulart, who had then succeeded him as president, was deposed in the military coup d'état of that year.

Life and career

Mazzilli was born at

Caconde Caconde is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 mill ...

. His father was Domingos Mazzilli (born Domenico Mazzilli), an Italian from

Montemurro Montemurro is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demogr ...

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, who immigrated to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 1892, at the age of 15; his mother, Angela Liuzzi, 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. 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 Taubaté is a medium-sized city in the State of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. Location Its strategic location between the two most important Brazilian cities (São Paulo away, and Rio de Janeiro away), connected to both by the Presiden ...

. 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". 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 Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...

(

Fluminense Federal University The Fluminense Federal University ( Portuguese: ''Universidade Federal Fluminense'', UFF, named after the state's demonym) is a public higher education institution located mainly in Niterói and in other cities of Rio de Janeiro state. It was f ...

). Mazzilli was the president of the

Chamber of Deputies of Brazil The Chamber of Deputies ( pt, Câmara dos Deputados) is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year ...

between 1958 and 1965. He assumed the Presidency for two weeks in August 1961 after the resignation of

because the vice-president

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. As the historian Hélio Vianna noted, "It was Mr. Paschoal Ranieri Mazzilli the first child of non-Portuguese immigrants to occupy the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil". The

1964 Brazilian coup d'état The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état ( pt, Golpe de estado no Brasil em 1964), colloquially known in Brazil as the Coup of 64 ('), was a series of events in Brazil from March 31 to April 1 that led to the overthrow of President João Goulart by membe ...

removed Goulart from power permanently. On 1 April 1964, after the deposition of Goulart, Mazzilli assumed the presidency for a further two weeks before

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 the first president of the Brazilian military dictatorship after the 1964 military coup d'etat. ...

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 military coup. According to Ranieri's nephew, Brazilian lawyer and law professor Hugo Nigro Mazzilli, his government was important to avoid "bloodshed" in the transition between democracy and dictatorship, and his uncle did not support the coup and faced his presidential moments as a constitutional imposition.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzilli, Pascoal Ranieri 1910 births 1975 deaths People from São Paulo (state) Brazilian people of Italian descent Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65) politicians Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians Presidents of Brazil Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) Military dictatorship in Brazil Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Candidates for Vice President of Brazil