Back in 1922, Brazil was essentially a rural country, with just under 32 million inhabitants spread across its massive territory. That year, the hope was to recover from a severe economic crisis by boosting the coffee industry. Prohibition had taken hold in the U.S., and Brazil believed it could sell its caffeinated beverage up north, in the absence of alcohol.
Dominating the production of the country’s largest commodity, coffee barons in the state of São Paulo essentially controlled Brazilian politics alongside major dairy farm owners from Minas Gerais. Representatives from these two groups took it in turns to serve as president, in a period which became known as “coffee with milk politics.”
In 1922, the man in charge was Epitácio Pessoa, backing the São Paulo coffee growers. Near the end of his term, he printed more money and obtained loans from the United Kingdom to mitigate the impacts of the 1920 international economic crisis.
That same year, as radio broadcasts arrived in the country,...
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