Marcelo Caetano
Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano GCC GCSE GCTE[1] (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐɾˈsɛlu kɐiˈtɐnu]; 17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António de Oliveira Salazar. He served as prime minister from 1968 to 1974, when he was overthrown during the Carnation Revolution.
In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Neves and the second or paternal family name is Alves Caetano.
Marcelo Caetano
Himself
Francisco Vieira Machado
José Porto Soares Franco
President of the Presidium
Policy and administration
Credit and insurance
26 October 1980 (aged 74)
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
São João Batista Cemetery, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
4
Early life and career[edit]
He was the son of José Maria de Almeida Alves Caetano and his first wife Josefa Maria das Neves. Graduated as a Licentiate and later a Doctorate in Law, Caetano was a Cathedratic Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. A conservative politician and a self-proclaimed reactionary in his youth,[2] Caetano started his political career in the 1930s, during the early days of the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar.
Caetano soon became an important figure in the Estado Novo government, and in 1940, he was appointed chief of the Portuguese Youth Organisation. Caetano progressed in his academic career at the university, published several works and lectured law. In jail for political reasons, Álvaro Cunhal, a law student, the future leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, submitted his final thesis on the topic of abortion before a faculty jury that included Caetano.
Between 1944 and 1947, Caetano was minister of the colonies, and in 1947, he became the president of the executive board of the National Union. He also served as president of the Corporative Chamber between 1949 and 1955.
From 1955 to 1958, he was the minister attached to the presidency of the Council of Ministers and was the most powerful man in the regime after Salazar, who was approaching the age of retirement. Their relationship was tense at times, which stopped Caetano from being a clear successor. He returned to his academic career and maintained formally-important political functions such as the executive president of the National Union, Caetano became the ninth rector of the University of Lisbon from 1959, but the Academic Crisis of 1962 led him to resign after protesting students clashed with riot police in the campus. On the other hand, students who supported the regime tried to boycott the anti-regime activism. There were indeed three generations of militants of the radical right at the Portuguese universities and schools between 1945 and 1974 who were guided by a revolutionary nationalism partly influenced by the political subculture of European neofascism. The core of these radical students' struggle lay in an uncompromising defence of the Portuguese Empire in the days of the fascist regime.[3]
Overthrow[edit]
By the beginning of 1974, signals of rebellion increased. The Armed Forces Movement was formed within the army and started planning a coup to end the regime. In March, an unsuccessful attempt against the regime was made. By then, Caetano had offered his resignation to the president more than once but his request was denied. There was now little attempt or political possibility of controlling the movements of the opposition.
On 25 April 1974, the military overthrew the regime in the Carnation Revolution. Caetano resigned and was taken into military custody.
The combined African independentist guerrilla forces of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in Angola; the PAIGC in Portuguese Guinea and the FRELIMO in Mozambique succeeded in their nationalistic rebellion when their continued guerrilla warfare prompted elements of the Portuguese Armed Forces to stage a coup at Lisbon in 1974.[15][16]
The Armed Forces Movement overthrew the Lisbon government as a protest against the ongoing war in Portuguese Guinea that seemed to have no military end in sight, to rebel against the new military laws that were to be presented the next year (Decretos-Leis n.os 353, de 13 de Julho de 1973, e 409, de 20 de Agosto), to reduce military expenses and to incorporate militia and military academy officers in the army branches as equals.[10][11][12][13][14]
Later life[edit]
After Caetano had resigned, he was flown under custody to the Madeira Islands, where he stayed for a few days. He then flew to exile to Brazil, which was ruled by its own dictatorship. He died in Rio de Janeiro of a heart attack in 1980.[17]
Publications[edit]
Caetano published several books, including several highly-rated law books and two books of memoirs in exile: Minhas Memórias de Salazar (My Memories of Salazar) and Depoimento (Testimony).
He was one of the world's greatest authorities in administrative law, and some of his works were studied even in Soviet universities. He also wrote Os nativos na economía africana in 1954. During his exile in Brazil, he pursued academic activities and published works on administrative and constitutional law.
On 27 October 1930, Caetano married Maria Teresa Teixeira de Queirós de Barros (23 July 1906 – 14 January 1971), the sister of the antifascist politician Henrique de Barros, the only President of the Constituent Assembly of Portugal, the daughter of writer João de Barros and his wife, Raquel Teixeira de Queirós; and the paternal granddaughter of the first viscount of Marinha Grande Afonso Ernesto de Barros. He had four children:[18]