Liberal politician, interventionist policymaker: Oswaldo Aranha’s Economic Thought

Ivan Colangelo Salomão

doi:10.5209/ijhe.72625

Abstract

Oswaldo Aranha was one of the most famous and prestigious Brazilian politicians of the 20th century. Known for presiding the UN session when the State of Israel was created, Aranha had an important role in Brazilian politics during the first half of the century. Even though he held a bachelor’s degree in Law, Aranha had to deal with various economic issues along his political career. This paper aims to analyze his economic ideas, arguing that despite his liberal influences, he became an interventionist policymaker in Getúlio Vargas’s administrations. We argue that his experience as the Brazilian Ambassador in Washington played a central role in the changes of his ideological positions and economic ideas

Highlights

Even though the deference to his diplomatic career could be justified for the prestige he gained in international arenas, Brazilian historiography might underestimate the other virtues of the young politician who led the 1930 Revolution and became one of the most relevant public men in his country in the first half of the 20th century
Despite the abundance of predicates that historians use to qualify his career, his economic ideas are not properly known2. He had studied economic issues only at the Faculty of Law, Aranha had to deal with various economic topics along his political career
There are no currencies, but politics in our times, said a great professor of finance” (Aranha, 1953c). He attributed to the public power the responsibility for investments, especially in infrastructure, when the private sector does not do it properly: “There are sectors in which the State has to act promptly and energetically, in order to remove obstacles and eliminate certain bottlenecks in the national economy” (Aranha, 1953a). He was aware of the importance of the agriculture for the Brazilian economy, Oswaldo Aranha considered manufacturing a relevant sector for the economic development of the country

Summary

Introduction

Known for his prolific international career, Oswaldo Aranha is considered the most important Brazilian diplomat since José Maria Paranhos (Ricupero, 2017). He returned to the southern border to work as a lawyer in 1917, when he met Getúlio Vargas, who was working in that area Despite his friendship with Joaquim Assis Brasil, leader of the Libertador Party and opponent of the Republicans in Rio Grande do Sul, Aranha’s family supported, in 1922, the fifth reelection of Antônio Borges de Medeiros, leader of the PRR. In Vargas’ first government, Oswaldo Aranha assumed four different positions: Ministry of Justice (1930-1931) and Finance (1931-1934), the embassy in Washington (1934-1937) and the chancellery (1938-1944) His performance as a public policymaker between the revolution (1930) and the end of World War II (1945) will be analyzed from the second section of this article. That is why Berson (1971, 35) declared that “Aranha would become a leader of the people; never a popular leader”

Oswaldo Aranha’s economic thought

Liberalism in Aranha

State intervention

Oswaldo Aranha as Minister of Finance

Findings

Concluding remarks