Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuseˈlinu kubiˈʃɛk(i) dʒi oliˈve(j)ɾɐ]; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961.

Kubitschek is best known for the construction of Brazil's new capital: Brasília, which was inaugurated on 21 April 1960, replacing Rio de Janeiro.

In 1950, he defeated Bias Fortes in the PSD caucuses to choose the party's candidate for that year's gubernatorial election in Minas Gerais.

As president, Kubitschek was responsible for the construction of a new federal capital, Brasília, thus carrying out an old project to promote the development of Brazil's interior and the country's integration.

In March 1967, he returned to Brazil and joined Carlos Lacerda and Goulart in organizing the Frente Ampla, in opposition to the military dictatorship.

The conclusion was contested by his family, who asked for the remains to be exhumed twenty years later, suspecting that Kubitschek had been the victim of a murder.

He then went to live in Europe for a few months after graduating eventually returning to Brazil after the revolution of 1930 that marked the ascension of President Getúlio Vargas.

Two years later in 1934 Kubitschek ran for office for the first time, becoming a member of the Federal Chamber of Deputies of Brazil with the support of Partido Progressista (Progressive Party).

It was in his term as Mayor of Belo Horizonte that he would establish a strong, professional relationship with the renowned architect Oscar Niemeyer, who would later become instrumental in designing Brasília.

[5] After President Getúlio Vargas committed suicide in 1954, his Vice-President João Café Filho fulfilled the rest of his term until the elections of 1955 which were held in October.

He ran with the slogan of “fifty years progress in five” and developed a platform that highlighted energy, agriculture, industry, education, and transportation.

He was also a vocal supporter of moving the government capital out of Rio de Janeiro, to a more central location in the country, to promote regional development.

Before Kubitschek was even inaugurated, however, rumors of a military coup were brewing and the opposition party União Democrática Nacional (National Democratic Union or UDN) became vocal over his close ties to Vargas and his alleged sympathy towards communists.

Henrique Teixeira Lott, then Minister of War, and a coalition of high ranking military officers staged a countercoup to ensure that Juscelino Kubitschek was inaugurated.

This plan sought to diversify and expand the Brazilian economy, based on industrial expansion and integration of the national territory.

The most notable is DNERU which was an agency created to address tuberculosis and malaria, and issue vaccines in areas of the country where access to healthcare was scarce.

Having to import over 80% of its consumption, the quadrupling of oil prices greatly contributed to Brazil's debts and spiralling inflation, for which his administration was directly blamed by the critics as a result.

The idea of building a new capital in the center of the country was already idealised in the Brazilian constitutions of 1891, 1934 and 1946, but it was only in 1956 that planning began to take form in response to Kubitschek's campaign promise to develop the interior.

Debates that included statesmen, residents and professionals were televised on the TV show "Que será do Rio" and letters to the editor in Correio da Manhã.

[10] The work, led by urban planner Lúcio Costa, architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, started in February 1957.

The construction went on day and night to meet the objective of finishing Brasília by 21 April 1960, in a homage to the Inconfidência Mineira and Rome's founding.

A completely new capital city, its streets, government palaces, infrastructure, living facilities, etc., suddenly emerged in the middle of a savanna in just 41 months, and before the target date.

[14] Kubitschek returned to Brazil in 1967, but died in a car crash in 1976, near the city of Resende in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

[15] On 26 April 2000, the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Leonel Brizola, alleged that the former presidents of Brazil, João Goulart and Kubitschek, who died a few months apart in 1976, were murdered as part of the US-backed Operation Condor, and requested the investigation of their deaths as part of the National Truth Commission investigations.

Márcia Kubitschek was elected to the National Congress of Brazil in 1987 and served as lieutenant governor of the Federal District from 1991 to 1994.