As Carneiro Leão told Paranhos when justifying his choice of the young and inexperienced journalist: "I consulted no one about appointing you. What influenced my mind was your merit, which I prize: I hope, sir, that you will prove I got it right."[43][44] Paranhos was a handsome and charming man, tall at 1.95 meters (6 ft 4.8 in), with blue eyes and golden hair.[45] Historian Jeffrey D. Needell remarked that in Paranhos, Carneiro Leão had "a man with marked literary skill, with a military background and unusually fine technical knowledge, with political instincts and proven political courage, and with a clear need for a new patron, with Aureliano [Coutinho]'s recent eclipse".[46] That, along with cool-headedness, outstanding oratory skills, inexhaustible energy, and a gifted and cultured mind, made him seem the ideal person for the post.[47]