Army of the Alliance: Non-State Actors of the Alliance for Progress in Brazil

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to expose how US non-state actors played a critical role in the implementation of the Alliance for Progress in Brazil. By mid-1962, President Kennedy's idealism waned in the face of João Goulart's recalcitrance. The Brazilian president saw US aid for what it was – intervention – and encouraged his supporters to resist Alliance measures at all costs. To help mitigate this resistance and grow support for the program at home, the Kennedy administration called on the wider American public. The public answered the call. Three groups stand out in their involvement with the Alliance for Progress in Brazil – American labor unions, the Catholic Church, and universities affiliated with the newly created Partners of the Alliance program. These non-state actors worked with the State Department's Agency for International Development to steer sectors of Brazilian society away from Communist influence and into the orbit of US foreign aid policy. In so doing, these public actors became the "chosen instrument" of the US government in their mission to politically reorient Brazil. Unfortunately, for Brazil, groups of US citizens became vectors for right-wing politics that aided the rise of the Castello Branco military regime. For the Alliance was officially a state-to-state program, scholars tend to overlook the role of non-state actors in its history. By weaving labor unions, the Catholic Church, and American universities into the narrative, the US public's active involvement becomes clearer than ever.