The 6,300 m2 library can hold 864 users at a time. Its collection consists of nearly 115,000 volumes whose titles can be accessed on the Internet. In a special room the library houses the personal collection of the late cabinet minister, diplomat and professor, Roberto Campos. It includes diplomas, medals and awards, in addition to its 8,426 volumes.
Who was Roberto Campos?
By José Pio Martins*
Roberto de Oliveira Campos was a Brazilian who participated in all of the reforms carried out in Brazil, since 1950. A poor boy, born in Mato Grosso, he was an intern student in a Catholic school, where he graduated in Philosophy and Theology. In 1938, he passed a public exam and joined the Itamaraty, where he was assigned the Trade Department, where he was in charge of economic affairs.
At the young age of 27 he was sent to Washington D.C. as a secretary to the Brazilian Embassy. There he stood out as a talented context analyst, thinker, the master mind of many measures, always displaying precise logic and an incredible argumentation capacity. He participated in the famous Bretton Woods conference in which the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were created. Since then, all administrations, without exception, consulted him for advice, benefiting from his intelligence and culture in the formulation of policies and institutional reforms.
Roberto Campos received a Master's degree from the George Washington University, and studied at Columbia University, in New York. As an economist, he demonstrated an incredible understanding of the workings of economic systems, and acquired considerable knowledge on world economy, and was capable of developing government plans and programs, unlike anybody else. He was the creator of BNDE - the National Bank for Economic Development and, as its managing director, created the Plan of Goals for President Juscelino Kubitschek's administration. As Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. in the administrations of President Jânio Quadros and João Goulart, he negotiated agreements and participated in negotiations during the Kennedy administration as well. The late president used to say that the Brazilian ambassador was one of the greatest specialists in world economy.
Campos was Minister of Planning in the first government after the military coup in 1964, when he developed and implemented great reforms, with Otávio Gouvêia de Bulhões. He carried out the tax reform, the labor reform, and the banking system reform. He also created the IMC, the FGTS, the Central Bank and the laws regulating the financial system. He served as Brazilian ambassador to England during the Geisel and Figueiredo administrations. He returned to Brazil in 1982 to become a senator from the state of Mato Grosso, and was twice elected state representative from Rio de Janeiro.
As a writer and economic analyst, he published more than 20 books and contributed to major Brazilian newspapers and magazines. Of unparalleled erudition and rare knowledge of worldwide cultures, Roberto Campos was widely respected, even by his political opponents. They used to say two things about him: that he was capable of seeing ahead of his times, and that he was very consistent in his ideas. He was an adamant champion of freedom and individual rights, of political democracy and the free market.
* José Pio Martins is an economist, professor and President of Universidade Positivo.