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,
Vargas Era do Sul state, Vargas was a cattle rancher with a doctorate in law and the 1930 presidential candidate of the Liberal Alliance. Vargas was a member of the gaucho-landed oligarchy and had risen through the system of patronage and clientelism, but had a fresh vision of how Brazilian politics could be shaped to support national development. He came from a region with a positivist and populist tradition, and was an economic nationalist who favored industrial development and liberal reforms. Vargas built up political networks, and was attuned to the interests of the rising urban classes. In his early years Vargas