Monteiro, Pedro Aurélio de Góis (1889–1956)

Pedro Aurélio de Góis Monteiro (b. 12 December 1889; d. 26 October 1956), Brazilian general. Born into an influential family of planters in the northeastern state of Alagoas, Góis spent about a decade in Rio Grande do Sul (1906–1916) as a young officer. In the 1920s he taught in the army's Command and General Staff College and served in the forces pursuing the Prestes Column throughout the Brazilian interior. Family ties (through marriage) and his long experience in Rio Grande do Sul led to his involvement in the uprising against the administration of Washington Luís in October 1930. Head of the triumphant rebel forces, Góis was promoted to general in 1931. He then led the government siege of rebel forces in São Paulo in 1932 and served as minister of war in 1934–1935.

Góis played a key role in the military coup of November 1937 that imposed the Estado Novo dictatorship, following which he served as the chief of staff of the Brazilian army (1937–1943). While serving a second tour (1945–1946) as minister of war, he personally organized the forced resignation of Getúlio Vargas in October 1945 and oversaw national elections in December. From 1947 to 1951 he served as senator from Alagoas, failing in a reelection bid in 1950. During his second term, President Vargas appointed him chief of staff of the armed forces in 1951, a position he held until 1952.

See alsoEstado Novo; Rio Grande do Sul; Vargas, Getúlio Dornelles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lourival Coutinho, ed., O general Góes depõe (1955).

Plínio de Abreu and Marcos Penchel, "Góis Monteiro," in Dicionário histórico biográfico (1983).

Peter Seaborn Smith, The Brazilian Army in 1925: A Contemporary Opinion (1981).

Additional Bibliography

Freixinho, Nilton. Instituicões em crise: Dutra e Góes Monteiro, duas vidas paralelas. Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca de Exército Editora, 1997.

Suano, Marcelo José Ferraz. Para inserir o Brasil no reino da história: O pensamento político e militar do General Góes Monteiro. Manaus, Brazil: EDUA, 1999.

                                       Marshall C. Eakin