Aristotle Drummond: Great businessmen in politics | Aristotle Drummond

Aristotle DrummondAristotle Drummond

Published 04/29/2024 00:00

The presence of São Paulo’s top business community in national public life has always been relevant. Some with elected mandates and others occupying high positions in the government.

These men guaranteed quality in the exercise of public functions, lending culture, good taste, common sense and example through everyone’s unblemished reputation.

Adhemar de Barros, himself a businessman, was responsible for the presence, as mayor of Ubatuba, of Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, the creator of the Biennale. And, in São Vicente, Charles de Souza Dantas Forbes. When mayor of São Paulo, he had none other than Amador Aguiar in the Finance Secretariat and in the 62 election, as vice-president, Laudo Natel.

The São Paulo federal bench has already included Brasílio Machado Neto, Guilherme Afif and Paulo Maluf, former president of ACSP, as well as banker Herbert Levy and industrialist Horácio Lafer, from Klabin, who, in addition to being a deputy, was Minister of Foreign Affairs in JK and Getúlio Vargas Farm. Olavo Fontoura, another one Adhemar took into politics, was a deputy. Another notable, who presided over the Chamber of Deputies, was Pereira Lopes. A true selection of values ​​that gave more than they received from public life.

Minas Gerais also had politicians with a business life, such as Magalhães Pinto, who was president of the Commercial Association of Minas at the age of 30, and, on the federal bench, Sebastião Paes de Almeida, Gilberto Faria, Antônio Luciano, Bilac Pinto, José Alencar. The mayors of Belo Horizonte were the banker Osvaldo Araujo and the father of the national private steel industry, Américo Giannetti, and the president of the Stock Exchange, Ruy Lage.

In the State of Rio, Mário Tamborindeguy, Edilberto Ribeiro, Denizart Arneiro and Hélio de Almeida held office. At the state level, Everardo Magalhães Castro and Mauro Magalhães.

The Northeast brought Ermírio de Moraes, Albano Franco, Jessé Freire, Paulo Sarasate, Carlos Jereissati, João Cleofas and Teotônio Vilela, among others, to the Senate.

Brazil will only benefit from the return of businesspeople to politics. After all, countries with solid free enterprise are those that offer the best quality of life for their people.