João Goulart

time.

When the ceremony ended, he says, he went to the secretary of education and said, don't you realize that you're breeding snakes? Branco, importantly, later took part in a coup that overthrew Joao Goulart, the president of the time, and ultimately he became the president.

Why did he think the literacy campaign, though, was breeding snakes?

That moment was at the first graduation that was held in Angicos, where the newly literate people got to stand up and speak to the president of the country, Joao Goulart, who attended that first graduation ceremony.

But he also came with this whole presidential delegation, including a number of people from the military and including General Castelo Branco, who was deeply disturbed by what he was seeing there.

Because people got up and they spoke about what they had learned.

In 1961, President...

Janil Quadros resigned and his vice president, João Goulart, took his place.

Goulart was not big on foreign intervention, and although not officially considered a communist or socialist, he did support land redistribution and labor protection.

He was just far left enough to seem like an issue.

We have a recording.

I mean, we very, we very clearly, Washington was prepared to weigh in on behalf of those who were moving to oust the, you know, sort of social democratic João Goulart reformist president.

It didn't...

Uh, Washington's help in that instance was not needed.