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The paper analyzes the variations in the middle and upper classes vis-à-vis the military regime set up in the 1964 coup in Brazil and contests the conventional wisdom that the dictatorship never had society’s support. The coup was supported by various social sectors, encouraged by a strong anti-communist campaign, but this support lessened because of the violence used against the 1968 student demonstrations. Young students joined the ranks of the left wing organizations that had chosen armed battle while their parents took advantage of the regime during the "Brazilian economic miracle." With the end of it, public opinion wielded pressure on the dictatorship, demanding the amnesty of those persecuted and the return to the election of the president of the republic by universal suffrage. These movements caused the previous phases marked by serious support to the regime to be forgotten.