The anti-corruption discourse was one of the main pillars, together with the anti-communist discourse, for the 1964 civil-military coup to take place and to try to justify its permanence. Despite the anti-communist discourse having resided over the 21 years of the Brazilian dictatorship, its strength was relativized over time, and its importance in the immediate post-coup was diminished in favor of the anti-corruption speech when it became clear that the communist threat had been overestimated (MOTTA , 2016, p. 22) and, for strategic reasons such as the political persecution of personalities who could hardly be classified as communists. This article aims to bring to light and discuss one of the most mystified periods, for strategic reasons, and the least studied of the 1964 civil-military regime: the Branco government and, especially, the discourse that during his government there was no corruption. The reason for this mystification is simple, there is a dispute over the memory of this period by the sectors that supported the coup, an Operation Salva Castelo (BIROLI, 2009, p.281) that aims to endure the idea that support for the coup would have been legitimate and that there was a loss of direction along the way in which radical sectors had taken power and only then torture, corruption and all the evils arose from this regime - a false narrative, obviously. Whoever supports this thesis seeks not only to modify and mystify the past, but to legitimize themselves as decisive actors in guiding the present and future of the country in the public arena. Speeches like these allow, for example, that newspapers such as O Estado de S. Paulo or O Globo (two of the biggest enthusiasts and supporters of the coup) can try to portray themselves as supporters of the coup, but with restrictions, as, for example, asking to the reader to understand that they aimed to protect the democracy and morality that would be at risk in the Jango government by the supposed communist threat and by corruption.
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