Getúlio Vargas Constitution that was supposed to be transitional pending new elections, Vargas assumed legislative as well as executive powers. Also, under the 1937 Constitution Vargas should have remained President for only six more years (until November 1943), but instead stayed in office until 1945. For all intents and purposes, Vargas ruled for eight years under what amounted to martial law. Vargas employed ambiguous policies towards Axis and Allied orbits. At first, Brazil seemed to be entering the Axis orbit — even before the 1937 declaration of the Estado Novo. Between 1933 and 1938, Germany became the main market for Brazilian cotton,
Getúlio Vargas restrict foreign investment. In 1926, Washingtion Luis, a native of Macaé a city of Rio de Janeiro but he ran for São Paulo, was elected president. His election had been assisted by the political machine of Borges de Medeiros, and so he nominated one of that machine's members, Getulio Vargas, to be his Finance Secretary. Although Vargas was only to serve two years as Finance Secretary before returning to Rio Grande do Sul to become governor, he gained valuable recognition and experience on the national level. The Great Depression set off the tensions that had been building in Brazilian society