[1][3][2] Paulo Egydio began his political career in 1966, when he became Minister of Industry and Commerce under the government of President Humberto Castelo Branco.

In 1966, Paulo temporarily replaced Colonel Valter Peracchi Barcelos, the Minister of Labour, who had been chosen by ARENA to run in the indirect elections for the government of Rio Grande do Sul, scheduled for September 1966.

[1]In 1975, journalist Vladimir Herzog, director of journalism at TV Cultura, a television channel owned by the Padre Anchieta Foundation, was tortured and murdered in the DOI-CODI.

In 1977, the violent repression of the student demonstration at PUC, under the orders of Colonel Erasmo Dias, also happened during his administration.

He also signed the agreement between the Ministry of Aeronautics and the state government on May 4, 1976, which led to the construction of São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport in the 1980s.