That unexpected move caused a national crisis, with the presidency being assumed by João Goulart after the Legality Campaign.

He attended the University of São Paulo, funded his education by teaching geography and Portuguese, and graduated in 1939 with a degree in law.

He frequently visited the poor neighborhoods of São Paulo and listened to the complaints of residents, which made him popular with the working class.

Despite that success, the separate race for vice president was won by João Goulart, Lott's running mate.

When Quadros took office on January 31, 1961, it marked the first time since Brazil had become a republic in 1889 that an incumbent government peacefully transferred power to an elected member of the opposition.

After his victory in the 1960 election, Quadros spent the three months before his inauguration traveling in Europe and refraining from discussing what he would do as president.

Quadros laid the blame for the country's high rate of inflation on his predecessor, Juscelino Kubitschek, whom he berated for nepotism and corruption.

Quadros's government announced an anti-inflation program in March that simplified exchange rates and cut public spending.

That represented a major breakthrough for the Quadros administration, as several previous Brazilian presidents had failed to renegotiate the debt.

[17] However, the policies undermined morale within the government and alienated many members of Congress, and this was exacerbated by his failure to cooperate with his allies, as he rarely consulted the UDN on important decisions and held only two cabinet meetings in his first month in office.

[18] As president, Quadros also dissipated his energy on relatively unimportant issues, exerting significant effort to outlaw gambling and to ban women from wearing bikinis on the beach.

His decision to award the Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil's highest medal for foreigners, to Che Guevara was particularly controversial and led many to suspect that he was a communist sympathizer.

[21] Quadros's foreign policy was one of the most controversial aspects of his presidency and was a major factor in the decline of his support in Congress.

It is commonly believed that his resignation was a move to increase his power and that Quadros expected to return to the presidency by the acclamation of the people or by the request of the National Congress of Brazil and the military.

He joined the Brazilian Labor Party and was candidate for governor of São Paulo in 1982, only to be defeated by André Franco Montoro.

Nevertheless, he was elected mayor of São Paulo in 1985, for the second time, defeating the favored candidate, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, later president of Brazil.