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1 Introduction To the people of the United States, Brazil has historically been regarded as a distant and virtually unknown country—stereotypically a tropical land of palms, coffee, and carnival and whose racially mixed society has more in common with Africa than the Americas. Contact between the two countries has long been made difficult by geographical remoteness, adverse trade winds, and different languages, history, and culture. In addition, there is no shared common border as Americans have with Canada and Mexico, or no relatively easy access by sea as with Cuba, or strategic significance as with Panama. Brazil has, therefore, rarely impinged on American consciousness. While it is known to be a huge country—as big as the United States with a large and expanding population, vast natural resources and marvelous economic potential—it has never posed a military threat to U.S. national security or presented an ideological challenge to the American way of life. Moreover, in terms of diplomatic relations, the United States has historically found Brazil to be very receptive and generally willing to cooperate on hemispheric and international issues. This friendly feeling has provided Washington with a welcome relief and counterweight to the antagonistic relationship that has often existed between the United States and several of the Spanish-American countries. In fact, historians have referred to an “unwritten alliance” in which the national interests of the United States and Brazil have converged so that Brazilian diplomacy has acted as a bridge in helping to facilitate many of the policy initiatives undertaken by the United States in hemispheric affairs. For the people of Brazil, the conventional image of the United States has been of the “colossus of the north,” an economic powerhouse where people are devoted to the Protestant ethic of working hard and making money. Despite admiration for its political stability and economic success, Brazilians have also perceived American society as marked by racial discrimination and segregation and contrasting unfavorably with Brazil’s more humane and tolerant idea of “racial democracy.” Until the advent of the airplane and mass media, travel 2 introduction and cultural exchange between the two countries were greatly restricted by geographical distance, different languages, and disparate levels of educational attainment and discretionary income. The main contact has been through business and especially the trade in coffee that made the United States the largest single market for Brazilian exports. Brazil was aware of U.S. territorial expansionism in the nineteenth century and, on occasion, has expressed suspicion of alleged American imperialist designs on the Northeast and the Amazon region. The distant geographical location of the United States, however, meant that it has not been regarded as a serious military danger to Brazilian national security. This has contrasted with the long-standing Brazilian sense of continental isolation and concern over the threat to its borders posed by Spanish-American neighbors. As a former colony of Portugal, Brazilians considered themselves to be culturally apart and historically different from the Spanish-American countries of Latin America. These nations traditionally observed Brazil’s seemingly relentless exploration and settlement of the interior of the South American continent with suspicion. In particular, Brazil felt challenged by the rise of its powerful neighbor, Argentina. Looking for external support, Brazil has turned to the United States as a natural ally because that nation not only was powerful but also represented an Anglo-Saxon rather than a Spanish historical and cultural background. Moreover, fearful of racial violence in the nineteenth century and revolutionary disorder for much of the twentieth century, the Brazilian elite has viewed the United States as a force for maintaining political, financial, and social stability. The high point of diplomatic collaboration between Brazil and the United States was the period of “approximation” associated with the Baron of Rio Branco and Joaquim Nabuco at the beginning of the twentieth century. In return for supporting U.S. foreign policy aims, Brazil expected to be the beneficiary of a privileged relationship. This materialized in the form of U.S. help to settle border disputes and also encouragement for Brazil’s aspiration to be the leading power in South America and to play an active role in extrahemispheric affairs. A similar strategy motivated the Brazilian decisions to join the side of the United States in World War I in 1917 and World War II in 1942. Both instances pleased the United States because they provided moral and material support, especially access to valuable Brazilian strategic materials. [3.135.202.224] Project MUSE (2024...

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