Júlio Prestes


Júlio Prestes de Albuquerque was a Brazilian poet, lawyer and politician. He was the last elected President of Brazil of the period known as República Velha, but never took office because the government was overthrown in the Revolution of 1930. Júlio Prestes was the only politician who was elected President of Brazil to be impeded of taking office. He was the last person born in São Paulo to be elected President of Brazil until the election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018.
On June 23, 1930 he became the second Brazilian to be on the cover of Time magazine.

Early career

Prestes graduated with a Law degree from the Law School of São Paulo in 1906. He married with Alice Viana Prestes, and had three children with her.
He started his political career in 1909, when he was elected State Representative in São Paulo by the Republican Party of São Paulo. He was reelected several times until 1923, defending the public employee in São Paulo.
As a State representative, he introduced legislation that created the Court of Auditors of São Paulo and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnology of University of São Paulo. He was the author of the law that incorporated the Sorocabana Railroad to the São Paulo State patrimony.
In Revolution of 1924, he fought on the Coluna Sul, with Ataliba Leonel and Washington Luís, expelling the rebels of the region of Sorocaba.