He was appointed prosecutor in Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro in 1892, but resigned to devote himself to law in Batatais, São Paulo, where he began his political career.

Throughout the 1920s, the Old Republic suffered a deep wear due to demonstrations of opposition from the urban middle class, the lieutenants' and workers' movements and dissident oligarchies.

The crisis threatened the stability of the government of Washington Luís, who did not allow the new currency devaluation, pleaded by farmers before the disaster on the New York Stock Exchange.

Under the system of coffee with milk politics that prevailed for most of the Old Republic, a man from Minas Gerais should have succeeded Washington Luís as president.

The assassination of João Pessoa, governor of Paraíba and candidate for vice president on the plate of Getúlio Vargas on 26 July 1930, was a decisive factor for the worsening of movements opposed to the government of Washington Luís, already strained by the coffee crisis.

Reassuming the government of Rio Grande do Sul, Vargas and other politician such as Osvaldo Aranha began the political conspiracy that led to the movement of 3 October 1930, the Revolution of 1930, as became known the episode.

President Washington Luís was deposed on 24 October by the heads of the armed forces, and a provisional government junta took power, composed of generals Tasso Fragoso and Mena Barreto and by admiral Isaías de Noronha.