Up the ranks of soft-handed men we climb; here we have Getulio Vargas, who managed to be both the 17th and 20th president of Brazil. He was installed by the military after a coup in 1930 – and I love the term “installed,” it sounds like they had to screw him into the presidential chair like a bulb in a socket, then consult the instructions to see how to reset the defaults to “anti-communist” and “nationalist.”  Wikipedia suggests he was sorta-kinda Mussiini lite, and there were worries he’d flip to the Axis side, especially after he sent birthday greetings to Adolph. Pragmatism and proximity won out, though, and he came down with the Allies in the end before leaving office – on his feet, no small accomplishment – in 1945.

He returned to the office in 1951, but things went poorly in his relations with the military;   he shot himself (in the chest, the mark of a vain man) in ’54, one day before Soldier’s Day.