National Democratic Union (Brazil)

At the end of Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo regime in 1945, political parties were allowed to reorganize themselves and to run in the general elections of that year. UDN grouped the main leaders of the opposition against the populism of the outgoing president. This constant opposition to Vargas was the party's main characteristic. Although Quadros was not a UDN member himself, most of the ministers in the Quadros Cabinet were members of UDN. The party was soon dissatisfied with Quadros, who resigned in a clumsy political maneuver. Without UDN's support, Quadros lost the majority of seats in the Congress, and soon found out it was impossible to govern without the backing of the Parliament. Goulart's reforms alienated some members of the moderate PSD, leading to withdrawal of its support to the Goulart government in the National Congress, thus leaving the President in a complicated situation. In April 1964, Goulart was deposed by 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, which had the support of many UDN members. ==Ideology==

Even before UDN supported the 1964 Brazilian Coup d'état, opponents of UDN characterized it as a golpista (pro-coups d'état) party. However, the party was not conservative as a whole. Liberal and authoritarian, conservative and progressive theses coexisted in UDN. Contesting the results whenever losing an election was also a common practice inside UDN. and the aspirations of urban middle classes, all of which became unofficially known as "udenismo". An expression of the attitudes of its leaders towards politics, "udenismo" was characterized by defending classical liberalism, advocating higher education and traditional morality, and repulsing populism. ==Electoral performance==

• 1945–1947: Otávio Mangabeira • 1947–1949: José Américo de Almeida • 1949–1951: Prado Kelly • 1951–1953: Odilon Braga • 1953–1955: Arthur Ferreira dos Santos • 1955–1957: Milton Campos • 1957–1959: Juracy Magalhães • 1959–1961: José de Magalhães Pinto • 1961–1963: Herbert Levy • 1963–1965: Olavo Bilac Pinto • 1965: Ernani Sátiro == Secretaries-General ==

• 1945–1947: Virgílio de Melo Franco • 1947–1949: Aliomar Baleeiro • 1949–1951: José Monteiro de Castro • 1951–1953: Rui Santos • 1953–1955: Virgílio Távora • 1955–1957: João Agripino Filho • 1957–1959: Guilherme Machado • 1959–1961: Aluízio Alves • 1961–1963: Ernani Sátiro • 1963–1965: Rui Santos • 1965: Oscar Dias Correia ==References==