Word: brasilia
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...mile trip from Rio by wheelchair, and arrived in time. A relay of athletes ran a flaming torch from Salvador, 1.800 road miles away, as 100,000 Brazilians converged last week to hear President Juscelino Kubi-tschek proclaim: "I declare inaugurated under the protection of God the city of Brasilia." President Dwight Eisenhower, like dozens of other heads of state, cabled his congratulations "on the splendid pioneering spirit of Brazil...
Workers-ultimately 60,000 of them-flocked from all over Brazil, in particular from the drought-stricken northeastern bulge. "They mortgage everything to pay for a jouncing, weeklong ride in a truck to Brasilia," said a contractor. "After six months they visit home by plane...
...Oscar Niemeyer, 52, a dormant Communist ("I am too old to change," he once said), and an old pupil and admirer of Costa, casually agreed during an automobile ride with his friend Kubitschek in 1956 to design Brasilia's major buildings. He set to work at a government salary of $300 a month to make a city for "free and happy people who appreciate pure and simple things...
Novacap had extraordinary powers, and Pinheiro used them. He floated bond issues, snagged a $10 million Export-Import Bank loan. He expropriated the 2,260 sq. mi. of the Brasilia federal district at $1 per acre, sold selected lots for $3 per square meter and up, a plan that will raise one-fifth of Brasilia's costs. He hired 1,500 contractors, flew in the first building materials at high cost. Through Kubitschek, Novacap raided departmental budgets. Checking the figures, newsmen have found at least $117 million of financing for Brasilia. It absorbed, for example, 95% of all hospital...
...even across the jungle to Belém at the mouth of the Amazon. Morbidly afraid of dark rooms, elevators and airplanes, Niemeyer endured agony on his frequent plane trips to the capital ("It's shameful, but I can't help it"). He finally moved to Brasilia, where he dropped 19 Ibs. off an already lean frame...