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The familiar pay cuts and graft investigations poured from Quadros' desk along with some sharp measures to free Brazil's inflation-tied economy. He virtually eliminated the government-rigged exchange rates that subsidized imports of oil, wheat and paper—a painful reform long advised by the International Monetary Fund. He welcomed foreign capital with open arms, gave Western Union a contract (over nationalist protests) to set up a new communications system for Brazil, gave Ford the go-ahead for a new tractor plant, while turning down a Czech tractor deal. He spent, too, with caution. When a state governor begged $400,000 for a fisheries project, Quadros promised $80,000. "I was a governor myself, your excellency, and I sympathize. But I don't want to leave here with my wallet emptied."
Running the country almost single-handed ("I am one man alone"), he installed a Telex communications system beside his desk, with two fingers banged out a steady stream of bilhetinhos to government offices around the nation. Once, very early in the game, he Telexed a Cabinet minister's office: "The President has been waiting for you since 7 a.m. I would like to know when you plan to arrive." Answered the minister's man at the keyboard: "Colleague, the minister will arrive when he arrives." Brazil's chief executive tapped back: "This colleague here is the President. Tell the minister I want him immediately. J. Quadros."
All day, every day, a steady stream of delegations got the green light to line up before the President and listen to his plans for Brazil. One group of farm leaders stood waiting in his office for what seemed an eternity while Quadros finished scribbling some message. Quadros' old gold Patek Philippe pocket watch ticked on the desk, beige curtains closed out the view, the ever-present portrait of Abraham Lincoln stared down from the wall. "Then," says one of the farmers, "he looked up and started talking without greeting us or asking us to sit down. We stood silently for 48 minutes while he talked intensely about his farm plans and requirements. Suddenly a power failure put out the lights, but he kept right on talking without the slightest hesitation. It was uncanny, standing there in pitch darkness listening to the President's disembodied voice from across the desk."
Project by Project. From the beginning, Brazilians could not help admiring Quadros' directness, his humor, his resistance to compromise, his un-Brazilian talent for chopping red tape. But he seemed to have no overall goals. Editorial writers questioned his ''unplanned and impetuous" administration. "Quadros distrusts abstract planning," answered a close adviser. "He prefers to build up a program project by project." The projects are beginning to take form:
¶ HIGHWAYS. Expenditures of $1 billion over the next five years to raise the total network from 19,000 to 27,000 miles, and paved mileage from 4,800 to 13,200.
¶ POWER. Increase installed capacity from 5,000,000 kw. to more than 9,000,000 kw. by 1965 and 15 million kw. by 1970. Cost: $1 billion, half Brazilian, half foreign.