Brazilian Air Force Major Rubens Vaz was killed in the attempt, and Lacerda was slightly injured.

His administration was praised by the US government and the IMF for his efforts to solve some chronic problems of Rio such as water services, public transportation and housing.

Over this period, up to 140,000 people were evicted, mostly from the three favelas on the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, located near the beaches of the city's south zone.

In 1968, his efforts to restore democracy in Brazil made him ally with his old enemies, Kubitschek and Goulart, and Lacerda was arrested for a brief period and stripped of his right to run for political office for ten years.

His friendship with the architect Lota de Macedo Soares is depicted as a side plot in the 2013 film Flores Raras (Reaching for the Moon), directed by Bruno Barreto and starring Gloria Pires and Miranda Otto.

Actor Marcello Airoldi played Lacerda in this biographical drama about the 15 years relationship of American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares.