Assis Chateaubriand

Assis Chateaubriand, also known as Chatô, was a Brazilian journalist, politician, lawyer and diplomat who became one of the most influential public figures in Brazil during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the founder and director of Diários Associados, Brazil's largest media conglomerate in the 20th century, which included newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, news agencies and other enterprises. He was also a patron of the arts, a co-founder of the São Paulo Museum of Art, a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, a senator of the Republic, and an ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom. He was nicknamed "The Brazilian Citizen Kane" for his power and controversial behavior. He was born in Umbuzeiro, a state of Paraíba, in the Northeast of Brazil, on October 4, 1892, as the son of Francisco José Bandeira de Melo and his wife, Maria Carmem Guedes Gondim. He started his career as a journalist at the age of 15, working for the newspaper Gazeta do Norte. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1917, where he worked for Correio da Manhã and became the director of O Jornal. He acquired several other newspapers and expanded his media empire to other regions and sectors. He was known for his sensationalist and populist style, his political influence, his personal feuds, and his alleged blackmail and libel practices. He supported the Estado Novo dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas and later the democratic regime of Juscelino Kubitschek. He ran for governor of São Paulo in 1986, but lost the election. He was a vocal critic of corruption, bureaucracy, and inefficiency in the Brazilian political system and advocated for democracy, social justice, and economic development. He was also a pioneer of television in Brazil, launching the first network in Latin America, Tupi TV, in 1950. He was a cultural promoter, sponsoring artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals. He co-created and founded the São Paulo Museum of Art in 1947, along with Pietro Maria Bardi, and donated his personal collection of paintings, sculptures, and books to the institution. He wrote several plays and books, and was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1954. He suffered a stroke in 1960, which left him paralyzed and speechless, but he continued to communicate with a typewriter. He died of another stroke in 1968, at the age of 75, leaving behind his wife, nine children, and 25 grandchildren. He was succeeded by his children in the management of Diários Associados.