"Vunderful! Vunderful!"

One day last week a dark, ebullient man got off a train in Washington. Bubbling with energy and high spirits, he snapped his fingers at the rain coming down in sheets. Above his tan button shoes he wore a raincoat lined with rabbit fur. But His Excellency Oswaldo Aranha, new Brazilian Ambassador to the U. S., looked about at the sodden streets and buildings and exclaimed, "Maravilhoso!"

When a coup d'etat hoisted dumpy Getulio Vargas to Brazil's presidency in 1930, no one had a longer and stronger finger in the proceedings than Senhor Aranha. Since then in Brazil he has been called "The Strong Man." The grateful Vargas made him first Minister of Interior and Justice, later Minister of Finance. A fervent admirer of President Roosevelt, Senhor Aranha promulgated an "Economic Readjustment Act," abolished the gold milreis and repudiated the gold clauses in foreign utility contracts.

Lately Rio de Janeiro has buzzed with talk of a rift between President Vargas and his right-hand man. When the President made an appointment against his wishes, Senhor Aranha resigned from his treasury post, was persuaded to reconsider. Probably his standing at home will depend on what he does for huge Brazil's huge coffee output in the trade treaty negotiations pending in Washington. It was Strong Man Aranha who guided the Departamento Nacional do Cafe, whose wholesale destruction of coffee has brought Brazil something of a boom (see p. 54).

Waiting for President Roosevelt's return from Hyde Park to present his credentials, the new Ambassador last week chatted to newshawks through an interpreter, declared he would learn English in 15 days. To show that he had already made a start he cried: "Vashington! Vunderful! Vunderful!"

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