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Ex-Brazilian Leader to Speak at Library

Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso will deliver the fourth annual Kissinger Lecture on Foreign Policy and International Relations tonight at the Library of Congress.

In 2003 and 2004, Cardoso was a distinguished visiting scholar in the Library of Congress’ John W. Kluge Center. Currently, he is a professor-at-large at Brown University’s Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1931, Cardoso received his doctorate from the University of Sao Paulo, where he began his career as a sociology professor and an opponent of Brazil’s military dictators. He lived in exile from 1964 to 1968, and upon his return to Brazil, the government suspended his civil rights and he was banned from teaching.

Cardoso was later elected to the Senate in Brazil, representing the state of Sao Paulo. After founding the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, he served as the minister of foreign relations from 1992 to 1993 and then as the minister of finance from 1993 to 1994. In 1994, he was elected president of Brazil, and while in office, he worked to reduce the role of the state in the economy, to reorganize the federal bureaucracy and the social security system, to renew federalist relationships, and to overhaul the tax system. He held the office until 2002.

The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m in the Coolidge Auditorium of the LOC’s Thomas Jefferson Building. It is free and open to the public, but space is limited. No tickets are required. The lecture will also be cybercast live on the Library’s Web site, https://www.loc.gov.

— Amanda Arcuri

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