Put That Portrait Back

For 15 years, more or less, pictures of Getulio Vargas hung on the walls of all public buildings, offices and stores in Brazil. The omnipresent portrait of the stocky little leader was the symbol of his "New State." When his dictatorship fell in 1945, the pictures came down.

Last week things were different. In Rio, the Supreme Court, acting in its capacity as the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal, formally proclaimed Vargas victor in last October's presidential election. The official count: Vargas, 3,820,560; Briga-deiro Eduardo Gomes, 2,288,105; Christiano Machado, 1,653,521. From his ranch in the south, Getulio began a stately progress toward Rio and next week's inaugural ceremonies. When he met Sao Paulo's Governor Adhemar de Barros to talk over the new cabinet, so many well-wishers surrounded him that he had to sneak off and hold private chats in the kitchen.

Excitement mounted in Rio. Though Getulio was not expected to arrive till early this week, bandwagon-jumping politicos staged one banquet of homage after another. Cardinal Dom Jaime Camara announced a special Mass commemorating Vargas' election, although the church press had backed the Brigadeiro during the campaign. The staid Jockey Club said it would revive its annual "Prix Getulio Vargas," which was dropped from the racing calendar in 1946. At week's end a new samba was sweeping to the top of the pre-Carnival popularity list:

Put that portrait of the old man back, Put it back where it was; The smile of the little old man Sends us back to work.

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