Roberto de Oliveira Campos
Encyclopedia
Roberto de Oliveira Campos (17 April 1917 – 9 October 2001) was a Brazil
ian economist, writer, diplomat, right-wing politician and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
. He served in a number of capacities, including Brazilian ambassador to the United States
and to the United Kingdom
, minister of planning for the government of Castelo Branco
, and congressman.
, in the state of Mato Grosso
, Brazil
. Initially planning to enter the priesthood, he enrolled in a Catholic seminary in Guaxupé
. Later, he received degrees in philosophy
and theology
from a seminary in Belo Horizonte
.
In 1939 Campos entered the Brazilian Foreign Service
. Three years later, he was sent to the United States, where he took graduate courses in economics at George Washington University
and Columbia University
. During this period, he also represented the Brazilian government in international economic meetings, such as the Bretton Woods conference
.
to Brazil in 1949. From 1951 to 1953, he acted as an economic advisor in the second Getúlio Vargas
administration, whose hallmarks were the paramountancy of nationalist economic policies. He was one of the supporters of the creation the BNDES
(at the time BNDE — National Bank for Economic Development), a public authority whose function was to supply emerging industries with low-interest and long-term credits. After Varga's suicide, Campos served as economic advisor to his elected successor, president Juscelino Kubitschek.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Campos presented himself as a promoter of "pragmatic, democratic nationalism," as when he tried, as Brazilian ambassador in Washington
, to reach an understanding between the John Kennedy administration and the Left Vargoist João Goulart
government. Eventually, disagreements with Goulart's policies led to his resignation in August 1963.
Roberto Campos sided with the military regime installed by the 1964 coup, which was greatly backed by Jorge Flores, a business partner of his. The first military president, Marshall Castelo Branco
, appointed Campos as his Minister of Planning — and chief economic policy maker, jointly with the Finance Minister Octavio Gouvea de Bulhões — in which capacity he enacted various pro-business and pro-foreign capital — as well as anti-organized-labour — reforms that aimed at modernize the Brazilian economy in a liberal-bourgeois sense. His simpathies for an inconditional pro-American foreign policy and foreign-capital-friendly economic policies earned him, already during the 1960s, his lifelong sobriquet: "Bob Fields" (an anglicized
word-to-word rendering of his actual name).
During the late 1960s and 1970s, he disagreed with the increasing amount of state intervention in the economy included in the process of authoritarian modernization achieved by later military administrations and remained at the sidelines, working mostly as an adviser in private enterprise. In 1975, he was appointed as Brazilian ambassador to the United Kingdom, remaining in this office for nearly seven years.
At the demise of the dictatorship, he regained political influence and became a politician in his own right. In 1980, soon after the end of the two-party regime, he joined the newly formed pro-government PDS
. Two years later, he won the election for a eight-year term as senator
for his native state of Mato Grosso
. As a member of the electoral college in the 1985 presidential election
, he voted for the defeated PDS candidate, Paulo Maluf
. Starting in 1991, he served as federal deputy
for the State of Rio de Janeiro
during two legislatures. In 1998, he was defeated when trying to return to the senate, thus ending his political career.
In 1999, he was elected member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
by a thin margin of four votes.
He died of heart attack on 9 October 2001, at his apartment in Rio de Janeiro
.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian economist, writer, diplomat, right-wing politician and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Academia Brasileira de Letras
Academia Brasileira de Letras is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century by a group of 40 writers and poets inspired by the Académie Française. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on December 15, 1896, with the statutes being...
. He served in a number of capacities, including Brazilian ambassador to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, minister of planning for the government of Castelo Branco
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco
Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was a Brazilian military leader and politician.He was President of Brazil, as a military dictator, after the 1964 coup d'etat...
, and congressman.
Early life
Campos was born in CuiabáCuiabá
Under the Koppen climate classification, Cuiaba features a tropical wet and dry climate. Cuiabá is famous for its searing heat, although temperatures in winter can arrive sporadically at 10 degrees, indeed atypical, caused by cold fronts coming from the south, and that may only last one or two...
, in the state of Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Initially planning to enter the priesthood, he enrolled in a Catholic seminary in Guaxupé
Guaxupé
Guaxupé is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 47,894 people living in a total area of 286 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the micro-region of São Sebastião do Paraíso. It...
. Later, he received degrees in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
from a seminary in Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
In 1939 Campos entered the Brazilian Foreign Service
Ministry of External Relations (Brazil)
The Ministry of External Relations conducts Brazil's foreign relations with other countries. It is commonly referred to in Brazilian media and diplomatic jargon as the Itamaraty, after the palace which hosts the ministry...
. Three years later, he was sent to the United States, where he took graduate courses in economics at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. During this period, he also represented the Brazilian government in international economic meetings, such as the Bretton Woods conference
United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as the Bretton Woods conference, was a gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after...
.
Career
Campos left New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Brazil in 1949. From 1951 to 1953, he acted as an economic advisor in the second Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
administration, whose hallmarks were the paramountancy of nationalist economic policies. He was one of the supporters of the creation the BNDES
BNDES
The Brazilian Development Bank is a federal public company associated with the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Its goal is to provide long-term financing for endeavors that contribute to the country's development...
(at the time BNDE — National Bank for Economic Development), a public authority whose function was to supply emerging industries with low-interest and long-term credits. After Varga's suicide, Campos served as economic advisor to his elected successor, president Juscelino Kubitschek.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Campos presented himself as a promoter of "pragmatic, democratic nationalism," as when he tried, as Brazilian ambassador in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to reach an understanding between the John Kennedy administration and the Left Vargoist João Goulart
João Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart was a Brazilian politician and the 24th President of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on April 1, 1964. He is considered to have been the last left-wing President of the country until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.-Name:João Goulart is...
government. Eventually, disagreements with Goulart's policies led to his resignation in August 1963.
Roberto Campos sided with the military regime installed by the 1964 coup, which was greatly backed by Jorge Flores, a business partner of his. The first military president, Marshall Castelo Branco
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco
Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was a Brazilian military leader and politician.He was President of Brazil, as a military dictator, after the 1964 coup d'etat...
, appointed Campos as his Minister of Planning — and chief economic policy maker, jointly with the Finance Minister Octavio Gouvea de Bulhões — in which capacity he enacted various pro-business and pro-foreign capital — as well as anti-organized-labour — reforms that aimed at modernize the Brazilian economy in a liberal-bourgeois sense. His simpathies for an inconditional pro-American foreign policy and foreign-capital-friendly economic policies earned him, already during the 1960s, his lifelong sobriquet: "Bob Fields" (an anglicized
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
word-to-word rendering of his actual name).
During the late 1960s and 1970s, he disagreed with the increasing amount of state intervention in the economy included in the process of authoritarian modernization achieved by later military administrations and remained at the sidelines, working mostly as an adviser in private enterprise. In 1975, he was appointed as Brazilian ambassador to the United Kingdom, remaining in this office for nearly seven years.
At the demise of the dictatorship, he regained political influence and became a politician in his own right. In 1980, soon after the end of the two-party regime, he joined the newly formed pro-government PDS
Democratic Social Party
The Democratic Social Party was a conservative Brazilian political party.It was established in 1979 as a continuation of the National Renewal Alliance Party , the party which supported the 1965-79 Brazilian dictatorship, at a time in which the country turned to be a democracy...
. Two years later, he won the election for a eight-year term as senator
Senate of Brazil
The Federal Senate of Brazil is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States...
for his native state of Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
. As a member of the electoral college in the 1985 presidential election
Brazilian presidential election, 1985
The 1985 Brazilian presidential election was the last to be held indirectly through an electoral college, represented by the members of the National Congress . Two groups were disputing the succession of President João Figueiredo: the Democratic Alliance and the Democratic Social Party...
, he voted for the defeated PDS candidate, Paulo Maluf
Paulo Maluf
Paulo Salim Maluf is a Brazilian politician with a career spanning over four decades and many functions, including those of State Governor of São Paulo, Mayor of the City of São Paulo, Congressman and Presidential candidate. As of 2011, Maluf is on a second consecutive term as Federal Deputy...
. Starting in 1991, he served as federal deputy
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...
for the State of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
during two legislatures. In 1998, he was defeated when trying to return to the senate, thus ending his political career.
Later life and death
At the end of his life, he tended to portray himself as solitary liberal, fighting against what he called "leftist" (i.e. Big Government) governments and policies, becoming one of the most vocal opponents of socialism in Brazil. His 1994 autobiography A lanterna na popa revises his personal biography—as well as the recent economic history of Brazil—according to this vein.In 1999, he was elected member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Academia Brasileira de Letras
Academia Brasileira de Letras is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century by a group of 40 writers and poets inspired by the Académie Française. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on December 15, 1896, with the statutes being...
by a thin margin of four votes.
He died of heart attack on 9 October 2001, at his apartment in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
.
Works
- (1963) Economia, planejamento e nacionalismo
- (1988) Guia para os perplexos ISBN 8-570-07126-4
- (1994) A lanterna na popa ISBN 8-574-75038-7
- (1996) Antologia do bom senso
- (1998) Na virada do milênio ISBN 8-586-02075-3
Further reading
- Perez, Reginaldo Teixeira. Pensamento político de Roberto Campos. Editora FGV, 1999.