after his death in 1967, castelo branco was succeeded by general artur da costa e silva. costa e silva received support from brazilian industrialists and from the nationalist wing of the military, a more numerous sector than the "castellistas", the castelo branco supporters. it is rumoured that, even before costa e silva took office, he demanded from u.s. ambassador lincoln gordon that he leave brazil before the general assumed the presidency. this was provoked by an alleged attempt by gordon to persuade costa e silva not to alter castelo branco's economic policies and re-establish the statist, developmentalist policies previously imposed by civilian former presidents. gordon was replaced by ambassador john w. tuthill. with a green light from the u.s. state department, tuthill put into practice operation topsy, a procedure intended to reduce the american personnel employed in the u.s. embassy in brasília. as he explained in an article published in a 1972 edition of the "foreign policy" magazine, the "omnipresen[ce]" of the american ambassy employee in the brazilian political scene had become a cause of irritation among the increasingly anti-american populace and the brazilian military, which had indicated, since costa e silva replaced castelo branco, that the country would follow its own strategy in political and economic matters.