A integração dos “Brasis”: José Américo de Almeida e o Ministério da Viação e Obras Públicas durante o governo provisório (1930-1934).

Abstract

The present thesis – “The integration of 'Brazils': José Américo de Almeida and the Ministry of Traffic and Public Works during the Provisional Government (1930-1934)” – aimed to investigate how José Américo reflected on his performance during the period where he was in charge of the Ministry of Traffic and Public Works (1930-1934) and, at the same time, understand, from this reflection, the relation of his performance as minister and the nationaldevelopment project proposed by Getúlio Vargas and his ministers, after the 1930 Revolution, with the establishment of the Provisional Government. Information about this topic is relatively scarce and this work is part of the perspective of contributing to revisit the theme. The construction of a large national-autonomous development project needed to be consolidated and it would be up to José Américo de Almeida to conduct most of the infrastructure works by taking over this portfolio during this time frame. In order to obtain more concise information on the subject, we read and record the two reports that José Américo himself wrote about his period of performance, a source of great relevance for the comprehension of that historical moment: “Provisional Government”(1933) and“ The Revolutionary Cycle of the Ministry of Traffic”(1934). Based on these readings, it was evidenced a narrative that seeks to demonstrate that the referred ministry had an effective importance for the consolidation of economic and social development policies, with the expansion of *the* Brazilian domestic market and the integration of the various regions of the country, in a search overcoming the effects of the 1929 crisis. Thus, it is shown that the Ministry of Traffic and Public Works had a much broader scope and was not restricted to drought control only, as infrastructure works said ministry covered several states of the country. However, all the logic of national developmentalism ends up preserving the agrarian structure in the Northeast and, on the other hand, develops industry in the Center-South region of the country, so Brazilian capitalism ends up structuring and articulating itself from regional development uneven. The narrative, present in the reports, also shows that José Américo had an effective concern with his image as a manager, that is, a minister who was very jealous about how his management would be perceived and evaluated in the not too distant future and that he felt the need to leave a legacy for writing. For the development of this research, the quantitative and qualitative method was used and as a methodological procedure, the data collection was delimited starting with the bibliographic (secondary sources) and documentary (primary sources) research, analyzing and recording some of the main news concerning the José Américo and the Provisional Government, found in the A União newspaper, as well as other national newspapers, such as Correio da Manhã. We also searched the State Public archive in the Cultural Space, the Casa José Américo de Almeida Foundation and the private library of Mr. Maurílio de Almeida.