Vargas of BrazilThe dominant public figure in Brazil from 1930 until 1954 was a highly contradictory and controversial personality. Getlio Vargas, from the pampas of the southern frontier state of Rio Grande do Sul, became the dictator who ruled without ever forgetting the lower classes. Vargas was a consummate artist at politics. He climbed the political ladder through seats in the state and national legislatures to the post of federal Finance Minister and to the