Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961.
33 Facts About Juscelino Kubitschek
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Juscelino Kubitschek's term was marked by economic prosperity and political stability, being most known for the construction of a new capital, Brasilia.
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Juscelino Kubitschek's father, Joao Cesar de Oliveira, who died when Juscelino was two years old, was a traveling salesman.
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Juscelino Kubitschek was raised by his mother, a schoolteacher named Julia Kubitschek.
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Juscelino Kubitschek's mother was of part Czech and Roma descent.
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Juscelino Kubitschek was educated at a seminary school in Diamantina, where he was an average student.
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Juscelino Kubitschek attended the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte when he turned twenty.
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Juscelino Kubitschek became a licensed medical doctor after seven years of schooling.
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Juscelino Kubitschek then went to live in Europe for a few months after graduating eventually returning to Brazil after the revolution of 1930 that marked the ascension of President Getulio Vargas.
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Juscelino Kubitschek served as a doctor in the military police and saw patients at a military hospital in Minas Gerais.
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Juscelino Kubitschek befriended the Governor of Minas Gerais, Benedito Valadares, who named Juscelino Kubitschek his Chief of Staff in 1932.
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Two years later in 1934 Juscelino Kubitschek ran for office for the first time, becoming a member of the Federal Chamber of Deputies of Brazil with the support of Partido Progressista.
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Juscelino Kubitschek would run again for the Federal Chamber of Deputies in 1945, and in 1950 ran for Governor of the state of Minas Gerais.
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Juscelino Kubitschek decided to run for president in a race with two other candidates.
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Juscelino Kubitschek stressed a wish to diversify Brazil's economy and open it up to foreign investment.
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Juscelino Kubitschek was a vocal supporter of moving the government capital out of Rio de Janeiro, to a more central location in the country, to promote regional development.
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Juscelino Kubitschek would be inaugurated as the 21st President of Brazil on 31 January 1956.
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Juscelino Kubitschek campaigned on establishing a central health bureaucracy that previously did not exist to address rural health issues more adequately.
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Juscelino Kubitschek made all imported machines and industrial equipment exempt from taxes, as well as to assist foreign capital.
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Juscelino Kubitschek promoted the development of the automobile industry, naval industry, heavy industry and the construction of hydroelectric power stations.
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Juscelino Kubitschek had a very progressive agenda proposed for Education; however, that was never carried out.
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Juscelino Kubitschek cared a great deal about the construction of transregional roads.
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Juscelino Kubitschek was criticised for focusing only in road construction and putting aside the railways, a decision still controversial today.
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Juscelino Kubitschek initially sought a loan from International Monetary Fund, but backed out of the negotiations.
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Later, during the military regime, Juscelino Kubitschek would be questioned about the corruption allegations and about his supposed ties with communist groups.
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Juscelino Kubitschek went into self-imposed exile and stayed in numerous US and European cities.
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Juscelino Kubitschek returned to Brazil in 1967, but died in a car crash in 1976, near the city of Resende in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
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Juscelino Kubitschek is buried in the JK Memorial in Brasilia, which was opened in 1981.
29.
On 26 April 2000, the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Leonel Brizola, alleged that the former presidents of Brazil, Joao Goulart and Juscelino Kubitschek, who died a few months apart in 1976, were murdered as part of the US-backed Operation Condor, and requested the investigation of their deaths as part of the National Truth Commission investigations.
30.
On 27 March 2014, the commission concluded that Juscelino Kubitschek was not assassinated.
31.
In 2006, Globo created a miniseries based on Juscelino Kubitschek's life called JK, featuring Wagner Moura and Jose Wilker.
32.
In 1980, his daughter Marcia Juscelino Kubitschek married Cuban-American ballet star Fernando Bujones.
33.
Marcia Juscelino Kubitschek was elected to the National Congress of Brazil in 1987 and served as lieutenant governor of the Federal District from 1991 to 1994.