The huge circular salon that had been the Quitandinha Hotel's nightclub was draped in dark green and salmon pink. Brazilian bigwigs and tourists up from Rio crowded against the walls. Around the grey-covered horseshoe table in front of the speaker's platform, delegates to the Rio Conference fidgeted restlessly in yellow leather chairs. It was cold in the vast hotel on the mountains at Petropolis, 40-odd miles north of Rio. Furthermore, the President of Brazil was late.
At 25 minutes past the scheduled hour, chunky Eurico Caspar Dutra, flanked by the conference chairman, Brazil's Foreign Minister Raul Fernandes (TiME, Aug. 4),...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
