António de Oliveira Salazar

Lore & Background

Salazar was born in Vimieiro, near Santa Comba Dão, to a family of modest income. He was the only male child of António de Oliveira and Maria do Resgate Salazar, who were fifth cousins. He attended a seminary from 1900 to 1908, then studied law at the University of Coimbra, graduating in 1914 with distinction. He became a professor of economic policy and finance.

After the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, he entered public life as finance minister with the support of President Óscar Carmona. Within one year he balanced the budget and stabilized Portugal's currency. He created the National Union in 1930, describing it as a non-party.

He enforced strict separation of the armed forces from politics. His rule was conservative, corporatist, and Portuguese nationalist; he opposed democracy, communism, socialism, syndicalism, liberalism, and capitalism (which he regarded as plutocratic). He distanced himself from Nazism and fascism, calling fascism a 'pagan Caesarism'. He promoted Catholicism but kept the church at arm's length via the Concordat of 1940.

His territorial policy was pluricontinentalism. The Portuguese Colonial War broke out in 1961, leading to the independence of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique in 1974. The annexation of Goa by India also occurred in 1961.

Salazar used censorship and the PIDE secret police. Opposition leader Humberto Delgado was assassinated by the PIDE in 1965. After Salazar fell into a coma in 1968, President Américo Tomás dismissed him. The Estado Novo collapsed during the Carnation Revolution of 1974.