Carioca Climax

It was a great week for the Brazilians. With pomp & circumstance the Rio Conference drew to a triumphant close. To visiting President Harry Truman (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), a million cariocas gave a mighty civic reception. And at week's end, proud in the presence of distinguished guests, Brazil observed the 125th anniversary of national independence.

Flags decked Rio's streets, but after the first tumultuous reception, rain fell on the Rio that was built for sunshine. The irrepressible cariocas went indoors and carried on in style. Rio had not seen so many and such lavish parties since the 1920 visit of Albert I, King of the Belgians.

Black Ties. There were Argentine lunches, Panamanian drinks, and Mexican decoration ceremonies. There was the opera, with Gigli singing in La Tosca and tiaras sparkling from the boxes. One night Brazil's President Eurico Caspar Dutra gave a state dinner in the palm-lined patio of the neoclassic Itamarati Palace. While a company of 120--the men in black ties and the women in low-cut gowns--nibbled pheasant and sipped champagne, swans glided in a candlelit pool and ballet dancers whirled on a special stage. Ignoring the rain, the ladies seized a lifetime's chance and swept into each new party crowned with ostrich feathers, aigrette plumes, flowers and veiling.

Guest List. The conference windup was all but lost in the fun. Delegates gathered at the fog-bound Quitandinha Hotel for one last session. That afternoon, in the soft-green-walled second-story "treaty room" of the Itamarati, they signed their names in the blue leather-bound volume entitled "Treaty of Rio de Janeiro." George Marshall arrived last and wrote his first initial so large that it had to be blotted before he could continue. Sol Bloom was barely prevented from signing for Brazil.

It remained for Secretary Marshall and Arthur Vandenberg, back in Washington, to focus attention on the job done. "One thousand percent worthwhile," said Vandenberg, and took the U.S. press to task for what he thought too scant and uncomprehending treatment of Rio's accomplishments. Another who knew what Rio meant was U.S. Ambassador Bill Pawley. His thorough background job in advance of the Conference had done a lot to pave the way for the most successful hemispheric meeting in years.

Wonderful Time. In all its 125 free years, Brazil had never celebrated an Independence Day like this one. Brazilians looked back to the day in 1822 when young Dom Pedro, the Portuguese Emperor's son, spurned the imperial decrees from Lisbon, and uttered the words "Independence or Death" that had made Brazil a free nation. The U.S. had stepped forward as the first country to recognize Brazil as a sovereign nation. After Dom Pedro and his son had come (in 1889) the Republic.

Last week President Truman and representatives of the hemisphere's nations watched Brazil's massive military Independence Day parade. In his graceful speech before Congress, Harry Truman had mentioned nearly every Brazilian statesman, and had made cariocas swell with pride. Standing and applauding that speech, a Brazilian had paused to exclaim: "Aren't we having a good time with all this!"

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