Augusto Frederico Schmidt

In addition to being a poet, Augusto Frederico Schmidt was president of the Club de Regatas Botafogo between 1941 and 1942. One of the last acts of his administration was conceiving the fusion of the club he headed with the soccer club of the same name, Botafogo Football Club, creating Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas. The idea originated after the death of basketball player Armando Albano during a match between the two clubs. Despite being the creator, the position of president of the new club did not remain with Schmidt, but with Eduardo Góes Trindade, then president of the other club.

A creative and versatile spirit, Augusto was also an entrepreneur, having been one of the founders of the DISCO supermarket company in Rio de Janeiro, as well as a majority shareholder in Orquima S/A, the precursor of Brazilian nuclear energy, which was taken over by Nuclebrás in 1975.

He was a personal friend of President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-1976) and created JK's famous slogan: "50 years in 5". He wrote numerous speeches for the president and several of his ideas came to fruition, such as the creation of the Pan-American Operation (OPA), an initiative that would inspire the Alliance for Progress, created by the United States in the Kennedy administration. According to diplomat Niles W. Bond, Schmidt came up with the concrete plans that led to the founding Brasília.

He was also special advisor to the Presidency of the Republic for international affairs, and later, ambassador of Brazil to the UN and the then European Economic Community.

Among his main books are O Galo Branco (1948), Estrela Solitária (1940) and Prelúdio à Revolução. As an editor, he published important books such as Casa Grande e Senzala, by Gilberto Freyre, and Caetés, by Graciliano Ramos. In his early years, he was also the main editor of integralist writers, especially Plínio Salgado.