US DIPLOMATS AND THE BRAZILIAN RADICAL RIGHT-WING IN THE POST-1964 COUP D'ETAT (1964-1968)

The article is based on US diplomatic documents collected at the National Archives and Records Administration. The aim is to analyze the US diplomats view on the right-wing radical groups that put pressure on Castelo Branco's government after the 1964 victory, which were generically named "hard line". North-American observers monitored these groups for fear that they would destabilize Castelo Branco's government, decidedly supported by the US. Diplomatic documents point to the differences inside the radical right-wing group and, what was little noticed by the bibliography, to the connections between military and civilian leaders. Based on primary sources but also in dialogue with historiography, the text aims at evaluating the objectives and the actions of the radical right-wing in the period 1964-68, with equal attention to the US strategy towards the Brazilian dictatorship.