1952 in Brazil

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Getúlio Vargas
• Vice President: Café Filho

  Governors

• :pt:Lista de governadores de Alagoas|Alagoas:
• Amazonas: Álvaro Botelho Maia
• Bahia: Régis Pacheco
• Ceará: Raul Barbosa
• Espírito Santo: Francisco Alves Ataíde
• :pt:Lista de governadores de Goiás|Goiás:
• Maranhão:
• Mato Grosso: Fernando Corrêa da Costa
• Minas Gerais: Juscelino Kubitschek
• :pt:Lista de governadores de Pará|Pará:
• :pt:Lista de governadores da Paraíba|Paraíba:
• Paraná: Bento Munhoz da Rocha Neto
• :pt:Lista de governadores de Pernambuco|Pernambuco:
• :pt:Lista de governadores do Piauí|Piauí:
• Rio Grande do Norte: Silvio Piza Pedrosa
• Rio Grande do Sul: Ernesto Dornelles
• :pt:Lista de governadores de Santa Catarina|Santa Catarina:
• São Paulo: Lucas Nogueira Garcez
• :pt:Lista de governadores de Sergipe|Sergipe:

  Vice governors

• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores de Alagoas|Alagoas:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores do Ceará|Ceará:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores do Espírito Santo|Espírito Santo:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores de Goiás|Goiás:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores de Mato Grosso|Mato Grosso:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores de Minas Gerais|Minas Gerais:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores da Paraíba|Paraíba:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores do Piauí|Piaui:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores do Rio Grande do Norte|Rio Grande do Norte:
• :pt:Lista de vice-governadores de São Paulo|São Paulo:

  Events

• 4 March - Anchieta rail disaster: A crowded steam-powered passenger train derails while crossing a bridge over the Pavuna River near Anchieta station, sending two old wooden carriages broadside onto the adjacent line. A modern high-speed electric freight train travelling in the opposite direction ploughs into the wooden carriages, telescoping them upwards. The severity of the accident was compounded by the fact that the suburban train is overloaded, with passengers clinging to the sides, underneath and between the carriages. A witness says they saw "passengers flying in all directions when the crash occurred". 119 people are killed and the resulting outcry prompts major new investment in Brazilian railways.
• 28 April - Pan Am Flight 202 crashes in the Amazon Basin approximately southwest of Carolina, Brazil. All 50 people on board are killed in the worst-ever accident involving the Boeing 377.
• 19 July - Brazil at the 1952 Summer Olympics: A team of 97 competitors attends the Games in Helsinki, Finland.
• 12 August - 1952 Transportes Aéreos Nacional Douglas C-47 mid-air explosion: A Douglas C-47A registered PP-ANH is destroyed after a in-flight fire causes it to crash near Palmeiras de Goiás. All 24 people on board are killed.
• 14 December - The city of Paranavaí is founded.
• ‘’date unknown’’ – Bob's, Brazil’s first fast food chain, opens in Rio de Janeiro.

  Arts and culture

Films

• O Canto do Mar, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti.
• Sai da frente, film debut of Amácio Mazzaropi.
• Tico-Tico no Fubá, directed by Adolfo Celi, starring Anselmo Duarte and Tônia Carrero.

  Music

• João Gilberto - "Quando Ela Sai"

  Television

• Sítio do Pica-pau Amarelo, written by Tatiana Belinky and based on the series of novels of same name by Monteiro Lobato.

  Births

• 18 January - Túlio Mourão, pianist and composer
• 17 August - Nelson Piquet, racing driver
• 19 August - Milton Hatoum, writer
• 10 September - Paulo Betti, actor
• 25 December - Luiz Carlos de Carvalho Teixeira de Freitas, journalist, psychologist and writer

  Deaths

• 2 February - João Guilherme Fischer agronomic engineer