Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Fernando Henrique Cardoso (born June 18, 1931) was the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to January 1, 2003. He is an eminent sociologist who speaks several languages fluently and has lectured at leading universities in France, Britain and America. As an author, his books have also been translated widely.

Personal and professional life

Born in Rio de Janeiro, he has lived in São Paulo most of his life. Cardoso is married (wife Ruth Valença Correia Leite Cardoso) and has three children.

Trained as a sociologist, he was a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Universidade de São Paulo. He was President of the International Sociology Association (ISA), from 1982 to 1986. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), a honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has penned several books.

He was also Associated 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. He also lectured at American universities including Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

After his presidency, he was appointed to a five-year term as professor-at-large at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, beginning in 2003.

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.

In 2005 Cardoso was elected, according to the Britain's Prospect (magazine), as being one of the world's top one hundred and one living intellectuals.

Elections

In the beginning of his political life, Fernando Herique was elected Senator of the state of São Paulo for the former MDB, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (Brazilian Democratic Movement), in 1982. Re-elected in 1986 for the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), which substituted MDB after Brazilian re-democratization.

In 1988, a group of parliamentaries left PMDB and founded Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Cardoso was among them and so, he led the new party in the Senate until October 1992. From October 1992 to May 1993, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Itamar Franco (PMDB).

From May 1993 until April 1994, he was Minister of Finance and introduced the Plano Real (Real Plan) to end hyperinflation. Buoyed by the success of the Plano Real, Cardoso was elected president in the first round of elections, on October 3, 1994.

Cardoso was succeeded in 2003 by Lula da Silva, after his fourth run for the presidency. Lula won in the runoff against the Cardoso-supported candidate José Serra. Lula's election has since been interpreted as a result of Cardoso's growing unpopularity in his second term.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso was re-elected on October 4, 1998 with approximately 53% of the vote, while his closest challenger, Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), had about 32%. In 2000, he ordered the declassifying of some military files concerning operation Condor.

Fernando Henrique's government

Cardoso, often nicknamed "FHC", was elected with the support of a heterodox alliance of his own center-left Social Democratic Party, the PSDB, and two center-right 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 weak, and deputies and senators belonging to the parties in the coalition did not always vote with the government. As a result, President Cardoso had difficulty, at times, gaining sufficient support for some of his legislative priorities, despite the fact that his coalition parties held an overwhelming majority of congressional seats. 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, or approved after really long and tiring discussions.

Using his previous experience as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his prestige as a internationally famous sociologist, FHC was greatly respected in the world scenario, building friendships with Bill Clinton and Ernesto Zedillo , for example. Although he was respected abroad, inside Brazil FHC had problems explaining his government priorities to Congress and people in general. Although claiming to be a leftist and supporter of social-democracy, FHC took some decisions in economy that led people to believe he was turning his ideas into a neoliberal perspective. He allegedly once said "Forget what I wrote", in reference to the leftist books he wrote before becoming president. Nevertheless, he increased government expenditure in benefits for the poorest and kept inflation under control.

He also experienced personal problems with former ally Itamar Franco, his predecessor that later became Governor of Minas Gerais, and was criticized for transforming the Constitution to his own benefit, creating reelection and allowing him to stay eight years in office. He also publicly admitted that he could have done more for public security and for the creation of new jobs. However, he was praised by his policies on Education and Health, with his Ministers being internationally recognized for their actions.

Honors

Foreign Awards and Honors

Year	Award or Order	Date
2003	J. William Fulbright for International Understanding	10 February
2002	Military Order of Torre e Espada, Portugal (Grand Cross)	11 November
	Medal, University of Technology of Peru	23 September
	Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Salamanca, Spain	18 May
	Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Konstantin Filozof, Nitra, Slovakia	27 February
	Honorary Doctor of Law, Moscow Academy, University of Moscow, Russia	26 February
	Order “White Eagle”, Poland (Collar)	21 February
2001	Honorary Doctor of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel	18 November
	National Order Mérito, Ecuador (Collar)	1 October
	Honorary Doctor of Law, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciências Sociales, Ecuador	1 October
	Order Congreso Nacional de la República del Ecuador, Ecuador	28 September
	Order General Rumiñahui, Province of Pichincha, Ecuador	12 September
	Orden de Manuel Amador Guerrero, Panamá (Collar)	8 August
	Order of the Double White Cross I. Class, Slovakia (Grand Cross)	10 July
2000	Order King Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia (Collar)	18 September
	National Order Steaua României, Romania (Collar)	17 July
	Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation, Spain	14 June
	Award “Mérite”, Association des Comités Nationaux Olympiques	24 May
	Gold Medal, Câmara Municipal de Santarém, Portugal	22 April
	National Order “Juan Mora Fernández”, Costa Rica (Grand Cross)	4 April
	Order “Francisco de Miranda”, Venezuela (Grand Cross)	29 March
	Order “Condor de los Andes”, Bolivia (Collar)	15 March
	Order “Infante D. Henrique”, Portugal (Collar)	7 March
1999	Order of the Elephant, Denmark (Grand Cross)	3 May
	Order “Al Mérito por Servicios Distinguidos”, Peru (Special Grand Cross)	16 April
1998	Medal, Rotarian Foundation, International Rotary	2 September
	Gold Medal, “Camara de los Deputados”, Spain	23 July
	Gold Medal "Americas Society", USA	8 June
	“Certificado ao Mérito”, Brazilian and Chilean Circle of Latin American Integration	20 May
	Award “Felipe Herrera Lane”, Santiago, Chile	19 April
	Order “Isabel la Católica”, Spain (Grand Cross and Collar)	17 April
	Gold Medal, Galicia, Spain	20 March
1997	Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Cambridge	4 December
	Honorary Doctor of Science (Economics), University of London, London School of Economics and Political Science	3 December
	Order of the Bath, United Kingdom (Grand Cross and Collar)	2 December
	Order “Merito da Câmara dos Deputados”, Chile	1 October
	Order “Militar de Santiago da Espada”, Portugal (Collar)	6 September
	Order of Lebanon (Extraordinary Degree)	2 September
	Medal “Amilcar Cabral”, Guinea Bissau	8 July
	Honorary Doctor of Law, Soka University, Japan	22 May
	Interamerican Award of Leadership, Fundación Pan Americana de Desarrollo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Washington, DC	25 April
	The Great Magyar Order, Hungary (Grand Cross)	3 April
	The Order of White Rose, Finland (Grand-Cross and Collar)	24 February
	Equitem Torquatum Ordinis Piani, Vatican City, (Collar)	14 February
	Honorary Doctor of Political Science, University of Bologna, Italy	13 February
1996	The Order of Good Hope, Republic of South Africa (Grand Cross)	26 November
	The Grand Order of Mugunghwa (Korea) (Collar)	11 September
	Soka Gakkai International, Peace and Culture Award	10 September
	Order “Nacional del Mérito”, Paraguay (Collar Mariscal Francisco Solano Lopez)	26 June
	Medal “Chancellerie des Universités de Paris”, France	29 May
	Légion d'Honneur, France (Grand Cross)	28 May
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University Lumière, France	19 May
	Order “Libertador San Martin”, Argentina (Collar)	8 April
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University Sofia, Japan	14 March
	Chrysanthemum Order, Japan (Grand-Cross)	13 March
	Order “El Sol del Perú”, Peru (Grand Cross)	26 February
	Order Aguila Azteca, Mexico (Collar)	19 February
	Honorary Order “Estrela Amarela”, Suriname (Collar)	10 January
1995	“Darjah Utama Seri Makhota Negara”, Malaysia (Collar)	18 December
	Order of Prince Iaroslav, “The Wise”, Ukraine (Collar)	25 November
	Medal “Rotary Internacional”	25 September
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, Free University of Berlin, Germany	20 September
	Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grand Cross)	18 September
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Porto, Portugal	22 July
	Order “Liberdade”, Portugal (Collar)	19 July
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Coimbra, Portugal	11 July
	Honorary Doctor of Laws, Central University of Venezuela, Venezuela	5 July
	Order “Libertador”, Venezuela (Collar)	4 July
	Order “Mérito”, Italy (Grand-Cross and Collar)	26 June
	Order “Cavaliere di Gran Croce”, Italy (Grand Collar)	24 June
	Medal of the Republic, Uruguay	20 June
	Medal “Lions Club Internacional”	23 May
	Order “Mérito”, Chile (Collar)	2 March
	Order of the Polish Republic, Poland (Grand Cross)	20 February
1993	National Order “Mérito”, Ecuador (Grand Cross)	29 April
	Order of Boyacá, Colombia (Grand Cross)	1 April
	Order “Mérito”, Chile (Grand Cross)	8 March
1992	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Chile	25 March
1991	Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame
1987	Order Mérito, Portugal (Grand Cross)
	Elected Member of the Association Internationale Maison d'Auguste Comte, France
1985	Légion d'Honneur, France (Chevalier)
1984	Order Aguila Azteca,México (Collar)	19 April
	Elected Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1983	Palmes Académiques, France (Officer)
1978	Honorary Doctor of Laws, Rutgers University

Selected works