Humberto Castelo Branco (1900-1967) was a Brazilian career soldier and president who became his country's first military dictator in 70 years.

Humberto Castelo Branco was born in Ceará on Sept. 20, 1900. He graduated from the Brazilian military academy and entered the army in January 1921. He did not participate in any of the military insurrections of the 1920s, and by 1943 he had risen to lieutenant colonel. He went overseas as chief of operations of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force which fought with the Allied armies in the Italian campaign of World War II. During the postwar years Castelo Branco rose to general of the army by 1962 and to chief of the general staff of the army in the last months of the Goulart administration.

Gen. Castelo Branco's support of those conspiring against the government of João Goulart, made known secretly to other high military commanders in late March 1964, was...