An American mission: the appointment of João Neves da Fontoura as the new Brazilian ambassador to Portugal in 1943

Abstract

While most historians highlight North-North transatlantic alliances during the Second World War, bilateral or multilateral relationships including the south of the Ocean have received little scholarly attention. This article examines how two countries - Brazil and Portugal - that controlled extremely important islands and more than 10,000 km of Atlantic Coasts in three different continents fit within Franklin Roosevelt's strategy concerning the evolution of the conflict after the Allied invasion of North Africa and the post-war world. Considering the long-term advance of American global influence and the ambiguities of the Anglo-American 'special relationship', this article focuses on the results of FDR's plan to approach Rio de Janeiro and share diplomatic action to have influence over Lisbon through the assignment of a new Brazilian Ambassador in Portugal. © 2013 Copyright Board of Transatlantic Studies.