Fernando Henrique Cardoso

His Excellency Fernando Henrique Cardoso GCTE GCoIISE GColIH GColL GCM
34th President of Brazil
In office 1 January 1995 – 1 January 2003[1][2]
Vice President	Marco Maciel
Preceded by	Itamar Franco
Succeeded by	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Minister of Finance
In office 19 May 1993 – 30 March 1994
President	Itamar Franco
Preceded by	Eliseu Resende
Succeeded by	Rubens Ricupero
Minister of External Relations
In office 5 October 1992 – 20 May 1993
President	Itamar Franco
Preceded by	Celso Lafer
Succeeded by	Luiz Felipe Lampreia
Joint President of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party
In office 25 June 1988 – 1989
Co-Presidents	Mário Covas Franco Montoro José Richa
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Franco Montoro
Member of the Federal Senate from São Paulo
In office 15 March 1983 – 5 October 1992
Preceded by	Franco Montoro
Succeeded by	Eva Blay
6th Academic of the 36th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 September 2013
Preceded by	João de Scantimburgo
Personal details
Born	Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1930-06-18) 18 June 1930 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Political party	PSDB
Spouse(s)	Ruth Leite (1953–2008; her death) Patrícia Kundrát (2014–present)
Children	Paulo Henrique Luciana Beatriz
Residence	São Paulo
Alma mater	University of São Paulo
Occupation	Diplomat Professor Statesman
Profession	Sociologist
Religion	Agnosticism
Signature
Website	http://www.ifhc.org.br/

Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Portuguese: [ferˈnɐ̃dʊ ẽˈhiki karˈdozʊ]; born 18 June 1930), also known by his initials FHC ([ɛfjaɡaˈse]), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician^[3] who served as 34th President of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002.^[1][2] He was the first President to have been reelected for a subsequent term. An accomplished scholar, Cardoso was awarded in 2000 with the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.^[4]

Personal and professional life

Fernando Henrique Cardoso walking hand in hand with his father in the 1930s

Cardoso descends from wealthy Portuguese immigrants. Some of his ancestors were politicians during the Empire of Brazil.^[5] He is also of Black African descent, through a Black great-great-grandmother and a mulatto great-grandmother.^[6] Cardoso described himself as "slightly mulatto" and allegedly said he has "a foot in the kitchen" (a nod to 19th-century Brazilian domestic slavery).^[7][8]

Born in Rio de Janeiro, he has lived in São Paulo for most of his life. Cardoso is a widower (he was married to Ruth Vilaça Correia Leite Cardoso until her death on 24 June 2008) and has four children.^[9] Educated as a sociologist, he was a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Universidade de São Paulo.^[10] He was President of the International Sociological Association (ISA), from 1982 to 1986. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton),^[11] an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has penned several books.

He was also Associate Director of Studies in the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and then visiting professor at the Collège de France and later at the Paris-Nanterre University.^[12] He later lectured at United Kingdom and United States' universities including Cambridge University, Stanford University, Brown University and the University of California, Berkeley.^[12] He is fluent in four languages: Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish.^[12]

After his presidency, he was appointed to a five-year term (2003–2008) as professor-at-large at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, where he is now on the board of overseers. Cardoso is a founding member of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy's Advisory Board. In February 2005, he gave the fourth annual Kissinger Lecture on Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, Washington DC on "Dependency and Development in Latin America.^[13]

In 2005, Cardoso was selected by the British magazine Prospect as being one of the world's top one hundred living intellectuals.^[14][15][16]

Academic career

Cardoso is a well-known professor and intellectual. He earned a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from Universidade de São Paulo in 1952, from where he also earned a Master's and a Doctorate in Sociology. His doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Florestan Fernandes, examined the institution of slavery in Southern Brazil, critiquing the dominant approach of Gilberto Freyre to the topic through a marxist perspective. It has since become a classic on the subject. Cardoso has also received the Livre-Docência degree in 1963, the most senior level of academic recognition in Brazil, also from Universidade de São Paulo. In 1968, he received the title of Cathedratic Professor, holding the chair of Political Science at Universidade de São Paulo.^[10]

As he continued his academic career abroad in Chile and France after the tightening of Brazilian military dictatorship, Cardoso published several books and papers on state bureaucracy, industrial elites and, particularly, dependency theory. His work on dependency would be his most acclaimed contribution to sociology and development studies, especially in the United States.^[17] After presiding the International Sociological Association from 1982 to 1986 Cardoso was selected as a Fulbright Program 40th anniversary distinguished fellow and in that capacity was a visiting scholar and lectured at Columbia University on democracy in Brazil.^[18] Cardoso currently gives speeches and classes abroad.^[19] In June 2013 he was elected as a member of Academia Brasileira de Letras. He said his election was due to recognition for his academic achievements, rather than his political career.^[20][21]

Elections

After his return to Brazil, Fernando Henrique engaged with the then burgeoning democratic opposition to the regime both as an intellectual and as a political activist. He became Senator of the state of São Paulo for the former Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), in 1982, substituting as a suplent the newly elected São Paulo governor Franco Montoro. In 1985, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of São Paulo against former President Jânio Quadros. Ahead in the polls, he let himself be photographed in the mayor's chair before the elections. Some attribute his loss in the election to this episode.^[22]

Elected for the Senate in 1986 for the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), which substituted MDB after Brazilian re-democratization, he joined a group of parliamentarians of PMDB who abandoned the party in order to create the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). This was a result of a right-wing shift of PMDB previous positions after the party became inflated with politicians that previously collaborated with the dictatorship. As a Senator, Cardoso took part in the 1987–1988 National Constituent Assembly that drafted and approved Brazil's current Constitution in the wake of the country's re-democratization. In early stage the Constituent Assembly's work (from February to March 1987), Cardoso led the committee that drafted the Assembly's internal rules of procedure, including the procedural rules on the drafting of the Constitution itself. The Rules of Procedure were adopted by the Assembly and published on 25 March 1987. Until 1992, Cardoso served as Leader of the PSDB in the Senate. From October 1992 to May 1993, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Itamar Franco (PMDB).

From May 1993 to April 1994, he was Minister of Finance. He resigned in April 1994 to launch his presidential campaign. In the 3 October election, he won the presidency in a single round with 54 percent of the vote, more than double that of his nearest opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It is still the largest margin ever recorded for a free election in Brazilian history. After the constitution was amended to allow the president to succeed himself, he won a second term almost as easily in 1998, taking 53 percent of the vote to Lula's 31.7 percent. To date, he is the only president to win an outright majority of the popular vote, and the only one to win office without a runoff since the restoration of popular elections in 1989.

Cardoso was succeeded in 2003 by Lula da Silva, who was running for President for the fourth time and came in second on his previous attempts. Lula won in the runoff against the Cardoso-supported candidate José Serra. Lula's election has been interpreted as a result of Cardoso's low rates of approval during his second term.

Administration (1995–2002)

Cardoso with South African President Nelson Mandela at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, 18 May 1998

Cardoso with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 14 January 2002.

Cardoso, often nicknamed "FHC", was elected with the support of a heterodox alliance of his own Social Democratic Party, the PSDB, and two right-wing parties, the Liberal Front Party (PFL) and the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). Brazil's largest party, the centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), joined Cardoso's governing coalition after the election, as did the right-wing PPB, the Brazilian Progressive Party, in 1996.

Party loyalty was not always strong, and deputies and senators belonging to the parties in the coalition did not always vote with the government. Cardoso had difficulty, at times, gaining sufficient support for some of his legislative priorities, despite the fact that his coalition held an overwhelming majority of congressional seats. Nevertheless, many constitutional amendments were passed during his presidency.

His presidency saw institutional advancements on the promotion of human rights, starting with the creation of a national secretariat and a new government programme, discussed with the civil society, to address the issue. On 8 January 1996, he issued the controversial Decree 1775, which created a framework for the clear demarcation of indigenous reservations, which as part of the process opened indigenous territories to counterclaims by adjacent landowners.In 2000, Cardoso demanded the disclosure of some classified military files concerning Operation Condor, a network of South American military dictatorships that kidnapped and assassinated political opponents.^[23]

FHC was the first Brazilian President to start a program to address the inequality issue in Brazil—the enormous gap between rich an poor in the country. He started the following programs: Bolsa Escola, the Auxílio Gás, the Bolsa Alimentação, and the Cartão Alimentação.^[24]

His wife, Mrs. Ruth Cardoso, focused her energies on the unification of the money transference programs aiming to get people out of poverty and hunger in Brazil.^[25][26][27] program based on the idea that educating the poor could get them out of poverty (see Bolsa Escola in the References).^[28]

A feature of Cardoso's administration was the deepening of the privatization program, launched by former president Fernando Collor de Mello. During his first term several government-owned enterprises in areas such as steel milling, telecommunications and mining, such as Telebras and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce were sold to the private sector, marking the deepest process of denationalisation in Brazilian history amidst a polarized political debate between "neoliberals" and "developmentalists". Ironically, this time Cardoso was against the latter group, generating uproar among former academic colleagues and political allies that accused him of reneging his previous work as an intellectual. Economists still contend over its long-term effects; research shows that the companies sold by the government achieved better profitability as a result of their disengagement from the State.^[29]

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with his wife Ruth Cardoso (right), at the inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on January 1, 2003.

Despite the selling of public capital, the years 1995 to 2002 witnessed a rise of the total public debt from 30% to 55.5% of GDP. Economists aligned with his government have argued that this was due to external factors outside the control of the administration at the time, such as the devaluation of the Brazilian real and the growth of the share of the debt denominated in US dollars.^[30] Nevertheless, the devaluation of the currency was an instrument of monetary policy used right after his reelection, when the real pegged to the dollar led to a financial crisis that saw the country lose much of its foreign reserves and raise its interest rates on government bonds to very high levels as he tried to stabilize the currency under a new free-floating regime. With this economic shift, the greatest achievement of Cardoso - his landmark lowering of inflation - was maintained, but his popularity plummeted.

Using his previous experience as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his prestige as an internationally famous sociologist, he was respected on the world scene, building friendships with such leaders as Bill Clinton and Ernesto Zedillo. Although he was respected abroad, in Brazil, he had problems gaining support for his government priorities in Congress and among people in general. As a result, major reforms planned by the executive branch, such as changes in the tax system and in social security, were only partially approved and only after long discussion. Although claiming to be still a supporter of social democracy, his economic policies led people on the left to identify him with neoliberalism and right-wing politics, terms that often carry a very negative connotation in Latin American political debate and academic circles.

Foreign trips of Cardoso during his presidency.

He also experienced personal problems with former ally Itamar Franco, his predecessor that later became Governor of Minas Gerais and a fierce opponent of his administrative reforms that saw the states lose its capacity to contract debt and forced a reduction on local government spending. Cardoso was also criticized for amending the Constitution to his own benefit, allowing him to stay eight years in office. His popularity in his first four years, gained with the success of Plano Real, decreased during his last four years as the currency crisis was followed by lower economic growth and employment rates, larger public debt, growing political dissent and, finally, an energy crisis caused by an unexpected draught and low levels of investment on appropriate infrastructure. He publicly admitted that he could have done more for public security and for the creation of new jobs, but defended his policies in areas such as health and education.

After the Presidency

Former Presidents (from right), Sarney, Collor and Cardoso, April 2008

Cardoso speaks at the National Congress during a ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of the Real Plan in July 2009

Cardoso during his induction ceremony at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, 10 September 2013

After stepping down from office, he has assumed his position as a senior leader of his party and is a leading public voice in the opposition to the incumbent Workers' Party, writing extensively on Brazilian politics for newspapers, giving lectures and interviews. Nevertheless, his relatively low popularity rates among the general population has made his legacy a mixed blessing to his political allies, who are somewhat reluctant to embrace it wholeheartedly during elections, especially on topics regarding privatization and social policy. In 2006, he helped the campaign of the PSDB candidate for the Presidency, Geraldo Alckmin, and has reiterated that he does not wish to run for office again.

He dedicates his time to a personal institute which he founded São Paulo, based on the model of bodies created by former Presidents of the United States, has written two books about his experience as President of Brazil and started to advocate for a relaxation on criminal laws relating to drugs, generating both criticism and praise. He lectures at Brown University, about Brazilian economic policy, urban development, and deforestation and taught as a guest lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris.^[31] Also, in 2007 he became a member of the editorial board of the Latin American policy publication Americas Quarterly, for which he is an occasional contributor.^[32][33]

Since leaving the Brazilian presidency, Cardoso has been involved in a number of international organisations and initiatives. He is a member of the Club of Madrid and was its president from 2003 to 2006.^[34] He is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee,^[35] ever since the Foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He is also a former member of the Board of Directors of World Resources Institute.^[36][37]

Cardoso has a particular interest in drug policy. He served on the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and later chaired the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Cardoso is also a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues.^[38] In August 2009, he travelled to Israel and the West Bank as the head of an Elders delegation that also included Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu.^[39]

In 2013 he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Honours

Foreign honours

•  United Kingdom : Order of the Bath
•  Portugal :
  • Order of Infante D. Henrique
  • Order of Liberty
•  Denmark : Order of the Elephant
•  Romania : Order of the Star of Romania
•  Malaysia : Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (1995)^[40]
•  Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2001)^[41]
•  United States : Kluge Prize, 2012^[42]
•  Poland : Order of the White Eagle (2002)

Honorary doctorate

• 1978 Honorary Doctor of Laws, Rutgers University
• 2001 Honorary Doctor of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (awarded in São Paulo on 11/18)
• 2012 Honorary Doctor of Sociology, ISCTE-IUL, Portugal
• 2016, Honorary Doctor of Laws, Harvard University (awarded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 26, 2016).

Selected works

• Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2006) The Accidental President of Brazil, PublicAffairs, ISBN 1-58648-324-2
• Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2001) Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0-7425-0893-5
• Goertzel, Ted G. (1999) Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Reinventing Democracy in Brazil, Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
• Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Faletto, Enzo (1979) "Dependency and Development in Latin America", University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-03193-8

References

External links

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