25 Facts About Ernesto Geisel

Ernesto Geisel then moved to Rio de Janeiro, graduating as an artillery officer from the Military School of Realengo, now the Military Academy of Agulhas Negras.

Ernesto Geisel entered politics in 1964 when he was appointed Chief of the Military House under President Castelo Branco.

Ernesto Geisel was part of the group of Castelo Branco's military supporters who opposed Marshal Costa e Silva's candidacy for the presidency.

Ernesto Geisel assumed the presidency of Brazil on March 15,1974.

Ernesto Geisel's government was marked by the beginning of political openness and a softening of the repression imposed by the military dictatorship, but he faced strong opposition from hardline politicians.

Ernesto Geisel later served as president of Norquisa, a holding company in the petrochemical sector.

Ernesto Geisel was born in Bento Goncalves, Rio Grande do Sul province.

Ernesto Geisel's mother was the homemaker Lydia Beckmann, born in Brazil in Teutonia, to German parents from Osnabruck.

In Bento Goncalves, where Ernesto was raised, there were only two families of German origin, and most of the population was composed of Italian immigrants.

Ernesto Geisel was raised in a Lutheran family, they belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, and his grandfather was a priest.

Ernesto Geisel claimed to come from a relatively poor family of lower middle class.

At home, Ernesto Geisel spoke German as well as Portuguese because his father, who spoke Portuguese so well that he became a teacher of that language, did not want his children to speak Portuguese with a foreign accent.

Ernesto Geisel married Lucy Markus, the daughter of an army colonel, in 1940.

Ernesto Geisel's widow died in an automobile accident in March 2000.

Ernesto Geisel acquired higher military education at the Military School of Realengo, and graduated it in 1928 as the first in his class and joined artillery unit as an Aspirante.

Ernesto Geisel witnessed and participated in the most prominent events of Brazilian history in the 20th century, such as the Revolution of 1930, the Getulio Vargas dictatorship of Estado Novo and its overthrow in 1945.

Ernesto Geisel was an important figure during the coup and became Chief of the Military Staff of President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco from 1964 until 1967.

In 1973, President Emilio Garrastazu Medici selected Ernesto Geisel to be his successor as the president.

When Guimaraes accepted the nomination, he decided to run an "anticandidacy" for president, knowing that Ernesto Geisel's victory was a foregone conclusion.

President Ernesto Geisel sought to maintain high economic growth rates, while dealing with the effects of the 1973 oil crisis.

Ernesto Geisel adopted a more moderate stance with regards to political opposition.

Together with his Chief of Staff, Minister Golbery do Couto e Silva Ernesto Geisel devised a plan of gradual, slow democratization that would eventually succeed despite all the threats and opposition from hard-liners.

Ernesto Geisel replaced several regional commanders with trusted officers and labeled his political program abertura and distensao, meaning a gradual relaxation of authoritarian rule.

In 1978 Ernesto Geisel had to deal with the first labor strikes since 1964 and electoral victories of the opposition MDB.

Frustrated with what he saw as the highhandedness and lack of understanding of the Carter administration, Ernesto Geisel renounced the military alliance with the United States in April 1977.