Inês Sousa

THE INFORMATION RESEARCH DEPARTMENT’S DESTABILISATION OF JOÃO GOULART’S GOVERNMENT (1961-1964)

My research analyses the impact of the Information Research Department (IRD), a propaganda unit created by the British Foreign Officer in 1948, on the 1964 coup that ousted Brazilian President João Goulart and initiated twenty-one years of military dictatorship in the country. It focuses on the presidency of Goulart from 1961 to 1964, thus being within the context of the Cold War.  Whereas research has focused on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ support for the 1964 Coup, in the framework of Operation Condor, demonstrated by documents declassified and made available by the United States government, there is a lacuna of knowledge regarding Britain’s involvement in the coup and subsequent regime. British influence in Brazil during the military dictatorship has been evidenced in the National Truth Commission’s Final Report on the human rights violations during the military regime, published in 2014. Through recently declassified documents, currently held at The National Archives in Kew, I propose to show that British influence in Brazil predated the military regime and actually precipitated the 1964 coup. These documents provide insight on Britain’s support of right-wing, anti-Goulart groups and expose the British interference with pro-Goulart organisations. Moreover, I analyse the connections between the IRD and American intelligence and the power dynamics between these two countries in South America. Since the IRD archives were declassified recently, this project will make an original contribution to the historiography of the 1964 Coup, British foreign policy after World War II, and the UK/US relationship during the Cold War.

Jens Hentschke, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University

Jorge Catalá-Carrasco, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University