A decade later - Fundação Luso-Americana

independent peer evaluation. He designed
a small paper, kind of a brochure that
contained all the information on grant
applications; then, after a first weeding
out, the applications would go to the
experts who would write a report of no
more than 20 pages. Only after this did
the directors get hold of the proposals and
organize the allocation of grants. After a
year, the projects would be assessed by
outside people who did site visits to confirm
how things were progressing.”
HeAdsTronG BuT democrATic
Charles Buchanan recently returned from
a trip to the US where he was invited to
talk about how FLAD was conceived and
set up – testimony to the innovative nature
and success of the endeavor. A large portion
of this success is the result of Finberg’s
staunch sense of purpose; but his fierce
determination sometimes needed to be
checked. As Fernando Durão says, “He was
very controlling, and right at the beginning,
I had to have a talk with him, because
he didn’t like delegating responsibility, and
I demanded more freedom. He understood
my point and accepted it.” Durão recognizes
that his stubbornness was the feature
that was hardest to deal with. Almeida
Pinheiro adds, “Finberg had all the qualities
I associate with the United States: simplicity,
merit, and solidarity. But he was
extremely stubborn, and you had to stand
up to him. But even when you did, it was
hard to make him change his mind, because
he was very impatient and headstrong.”
Finberg didn’t always get his way. As the
dyed-in-the-wool, democratically-minded
man that he was, he usually ended up
accepting the will of the majority, and
recognizing the merit of ideas that he had
initially disagreed with. Charles Buchanan’s
recollections are clear, “Because of his
convictions, he didn’t always get approval
from the members of the executive
council. He was stubborn, but in some
cases, he ended up rethinking his position.
A lot of discussing went on over certain
topics such as cooperation with
Portuguese-speaking Africa, which he
thought was not one of FLAD’s missions.
But later on, he admitted that the results
of the trilateral initiatives I defended so
staunchly were good.” Correia de Campos
remembers another instance in which
Finberg’s notorious stubbornness did not
end up winning the day; “He voted against
buying our building, and had huge reservations
about FLAD’s art collection. But
he was very democratic and respected the
58
proFiLe
administrative board’s
decisions.”
In José Luís Almeida
Pinheiro’s opinion,
Finberg’s honorable
character and stubbornness
did not jibe too
well with the Portuguese
traditions of political
correctness that formed
the backdrop for decision-making
and power
relationships in Portugal.
“He called a spade a
spade, and ended up
leaving Portugal partly
for political reasons. He
said no to some of the
most powerful figures in the country. The
first three mandates were to be presided
over by Americans to untangle some of the
more complicated situations among the
Portuguese administrators from the two
main parties (the Socialist Party and the
Social Democrats), and he ended up breaking
the stalemate on several occasions. But
when he left FLAD, the principle of not
linking the presidency to any party stopped
being honored.” Correia de Campos
acknowledges that Finberg was never concerned
with leaving an ideological legacy
or “going down in history,” because he
“thought about the mission he had been
entrusted with in operational terms.”
‘ He placed a lot of importance on
evaluating the results. He designed a
lot of very clear timetables and made
a point of informing the media of the
projects that were already underway,
and the results of what had already
been done.
However, FLAD’s former administrator does
regret that Finberg was never officially
honored for the contribution he made to
Portugal’s development: “One of the things
that hurt me most was that he was never
decorated by our government, especially
since the work he did was so important.
But at the time, nobody was too fond of
the fact that FLAD’s first president was
American and not Portuguese. That was a
real sticking point. But he deserved to be
recognized. His three years of work shaped
the Foundation into a non-partisan organization
with a culture of independence
that functioned without being put through
an ideological filter.”
donald Finberg (left) and charles Buchanan: two of FLAd’s American administrators in the 1980s.
’ Fernando
durão
Parallel no. 6 | FALL | WINTER 2011
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