Calógeras, João Pandiá (1870–1934)

João Pandiá Calógeras (b. 19 June 1870; d. 21 April 1934), Brazilian statesman, minister, and author. Educated as an engineer, Calógeras served as a federal deputy (1897–1899 and 1903–1914). He sponsored a law giving the government control over subsoil resources, and was active in boundary and military questions. Close to reformist army officers, who backed his appointment as minister of agriculture, industry, and commerce in 1914, he rose to minister of economy (Fazenda) in 1915–1917. He reorganized government finances and foreign loans, thereby preventing foreign creditors from gaining control over customs receipts.

At the Versailles Conference, he served as delegation chief after Epitácio Pessoa was elected president. In 1919, Pessoa named him the first and only civilian to serve as the republic's minister of war (1919–1922). He oversaw the reorganization of the army, the establishment of army aviation and the French Military Mission, the creation of new training schools, a re-armament program, the massive building of new barracks, and the development of a national defense policy. Military professionali-zation contributed to the revolt of July 1922 that began the cycle of rebellion leading to the Revolution of 1930. Calógeras backed Getúlio Vargas in the 1930 election and was participating in the constituent assembly when he died in 1934. A convert to Catholicism, in 1932 he was president of the Liga Eleitoral Católica. His books and articles ranged from history and government to engineering and religion.

See alsoBrazil, Revolutions: Revolution of 1930 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egydio Moreira De Castro E Silva, Á margem do ministério Calógeras (1961).

Lawrence H. Hall, "João Pandiá Calógeras, Minister of War, 1919–1922: The Role of a Civilian in the Development of the Brazilian Army," Ph.D. diss., New York University (1983).

João Pandiá Calógeras, A History of Brazil, translated and edited by Percy A. Martin (1939).

                                  Frank D. McCann Jr.