at a glance

social attitudes towards Getúlio are investigated, manifested by 410 visitors of an exhibition held in the Palace - nowadays a Republic Museum - in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

Results, which were obtained from responses to a free association task and a concise questionnaire, show that the memory that has been built of Vargas's historical trajectory is  complex and controversial. it tends sharply towards the positive pole, as evaluations prevailed, that Getúlio did more good than bad, and that he deserves to be remembered as 'father of the poor' and as 'Brazil's greatest statesman'.