João Batista de Oliveira Figueiredo (1918-1999) was a Brazilian army general and president. In the latter role, he was noted for restoring political rights and allowing exiles to return to his country. He also brought to an end 21 years of military-dominated government and turned the presidency over to a civilian successor.

João Figueiredo served as president of Brazil (1979-1985) more from a sense of duty than because of pleasure or ambition. In 1981 he told a reporter that "I spend most of my leisure time trying to pretend that I am not President.... I wish they had chosen someone else for this job." Indeed, it was his predecessor, Ernesto Geisel (1908- 1996), who decided that he would be the last of the five army generals to rule Brazil as president following the overthrow of João Goulart in 1964. He expanded Geisel's policy of distenç...