The Social Democratic Party (, PSD) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

between 1945 and 1965. It was founded by

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; ; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...

when he transformed his Estado Novo into a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...

. The PSD was a

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

party which represented the more conservative wing of the Getulist movement. The other pro-Vargas party was the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). The PSD was the most important Brazilian political party during the 1945–1964 democratic period, electing Presidents

Eurico Gaspar Dutra Eurico Gaspar Dutra (; 18 May 1883 – 11 June 1974) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who served as the 16th president of Brazil from 1946 to 1951. He was the first president of the Fourth Brazilian Republic, which followed the V ...

in 1945 and

Juscelino Kubitschek Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. Kubitschek's government plan, dubbed "50 years i ...

in 1955. After the coup d'état in 1964, when military dictatorship kicked in, it was banned together with all other parties. The party relied on powerful networks of rural elites in the less-developed parts of the country. It was dominated by executives appointed by the Getúlio Vargas regime and was therefore strongly interwoven with the state apparatus. It was ideologically moderate, considered centrist by some scholars and conservative by others. The PSD's representation in the Brazilian

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 Bourb ...

steadily shrank from 52.8% of the seats in 1945 to 28.9% in 1962. By 1963, the Labour Party, PSD's minor opposition party, had more seats than the PSD. A considerable faction within the PSD turned against 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 president of Brazil from 1961 until a military coup d'état deposed him in 1964. He was considered the ...

, a PTB member who had been Vice President until he stood in for retired President

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; 25 January 1917 – 16 February 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from 31 January to 25 August 1961, when he resigned from office. He also served as the 24th a ...

in 1961, whom they deemed to be too leftist. They therefore supported the military coup d'état on 1 April 1964, making an important contribution to the success of the overthrow. During the military rule installed by the 1964 coup, the bulk of the party, including most of its leaders, joined the

Brazilian Democratic Movement The Brazilian Democratic Movement (, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators, ...

(MDB), the only legal opposition party. A few elements of the PSD's right wing joined the pro-government

National Renewal Alliance Party The National Renewal Alliance ( Portuguese: ''Aliança Renovadora Nacional'', ARENA) was a far-right political party that existed in Brazil between 1966 and 1979. It was the official party of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 196 ...

(ARENA). A second Social Democratic Party was founded in 1987, after the end of the dictatorship. It was based in the rural center-west and led by Ronaldo Caiado, leader of the right-wing landowners' association

União Democrática Ruralista ''União Democrática Ruralista'' (UDR), known as Democratic Association of Ruralists in English is a Brazilian right-wing association of farmers and activists from the southeast and center west who are opposed to land reform. Through its members ...

. In elections it remained completely unimportant.

References

Literature

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External links

Article about the Social Democratic Party
on the official website of Fundação Getúlio Vargas Political parties of the Fourth Brazilian Republic Conservative parties in Brazil Defunct political parties in Brazil Political parties established in 1945 1945 establishments in Brazil Political parties disestablished in 1965 1965 disestablishments in Brazil Vargas Era Getúlio Vargas {{Brazil-party-stub