Brazil: Out of the Past

"Jusceli-no! Jusceli-no!" chanted a handkerchief-waving throng of 3,000 at Rio's Galeão international airport. Then from the doorway of an Air France 707 came the man, still trim and agile despite his 63 years, his face split in a toothful smile, his right arm swinging in a familiar jaunty wave. Brazil's former President Juscelino Kubitschek—still admired by the people but loathed as a symbol of corruption by the present revolutionary government—had returned home after 16 months of self-imposed exile. Said he: "I have come back at zero hour."

Almost Unbearable. The moment that...