Coup Atlas Research Database
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14004011964SuccessfulMilitary coup

Brazil, 1964 — military coup

Brazil (BRA)South America, AmericasApril 1, 1964

Event Summary

João Goulart, a reformist president of Brazil (1961–64), was deposed by a military coup in 1964 and died in exile at his ranch in northern Argentina. (The Cline dataset records the specific date as 1 April 1964; accessed sources this session confirmed the year but not the exact day.)

Films & Footage

Tanks near the National Congress in Brasília during the coup, 1964.
Tanks near the National Congress in Brasília during the coup, 1964. Photo: Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal / Agência Senado
João Goulart, the deposed president, portrait, 1961.
João Goulart, the deposed president, portrait, 1961. Photo: Brazilian Government / JFK Library
Humberto Castelo Branco, installed as president after the coup, 1964.
Humberto Castelo Branco, installed as president after the coup, 1964. Photo: Governo do Brasil

Archival media is credited to its holding collection and license. Media sourcing policy →

Researched Details

Partially researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: João Goulart, President of Brazil (overthrown)
RESEARCHED NAME

Sources

João Goulart was a reformist president of Brazil (1961–64).
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Joao Goulart" open source ↗
He was deposed by a military coup in 1964 and died in exile in northern Argentina.
SOURCE REVIEWED Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Joao Goulart" open source ↗

How It Unfolded

Hand-coded by Coup Atlas from the sources on this page, using a fixed list of tactics. Only events we have read through carry this coding, so most records do not have it yet.

Led by
Military
How long it took
2 days from first move to resolution
  • Troop movements in the capital or key cities

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
14004011964
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-140-1964-03-30

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: João Goulart, President of Brazil (overthrown).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Powell and Thyne

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

New York Times

“Brazilian rebels Claim Victory, Goulart Quits Capital...,” April 2, 1964
“Goulart Believed in Exile; Brazil Swears new Chief...” April 3, 1964
“THOUSANDS HELD IN BRAZIL’S DRIVE TO ROOT OUT REDS Fears of Reversal of Coup by Leftist Supporters Lead to Wide Arrests CACHES OF ARMS SEIZED Military and Press Charge That Purge Is Not Being Pushed Hard Enough THOUSANDS HELD IN BRAZIL AS REDS,” April 6, 1964
“Gen, Castelo Branco Named Brazil Chief,” by Edward Burks, April 12, 1964

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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