António de Oliveira Salazar
From Freepedia
Professor António de Oliveira Salazar (April 28, 1889—July 27, 1970) was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968.
Salazar was born in Santa Comba Dão. Initially, he was a professor of political economics at the University of Coimbra. He became finance minister in 1928 and Prime Minister of Portugal in 1932. In 1933 Salazar introduced a new constitution to Portugal, which gave him wide powers, establishing an anti-democratic, anti-parlamentarian and authoritarian regime that would last four decades.
There is an ongoing debate about the nature of the political regime established by Salazar in Portugal. While many historians consider that Salazar's dictatorship shared many aspects with Mussolini's Fascism, others find it more accurate to describe his dictatorship as conservative and authoritarian.
Salazar was handed power by President António de Fragoso Carmona in 1932 and gained major support from different elements of society. After World War I (in which Portugal had sided with the Allies but gained nothing from the victory), the First Republic had been overthrown by the military. The mismanagement of this era contrasted with Salazar's success at reorganizing the country's finances (he managed to create a budget surplus for the first time in decades). This reputation paved the way for his power grab since the army, church, monarchists, upper middle classes, aristocrats and the right preferred Salazar to the previous juntas.
Salazar developed the "Estado Novo" (literally, New State). The basis of his regime was a platform of stability; his reforms greatly privileged the upper classes to the detriment of the poorer sections of society. Education was not seen as a priority and therefore not heavily invested in. Salazar created a secret police named PIDE that repressed dissent. However, Salazar's regime was much less bloody than other European dictatorships, such as Franco's. This was mostly because Portugal lacked the death penalty.
Salazar's regime has been described by some sources as Fascist, but Salazar himself considered this to be inaccurate. His political philosophy was based around authoritarian Catholic social doctrine, much like the contemporary regime of Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria. The economic system, known as corporatism, was based on the papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno, which was supposed to prevent class struggle and supremacy of economism. Salazar himself banned Portugal's National Syndicalists, a much more unambiguously Fascist party, for being, in his words, a "Pagan" and "Totalitarian" party. Salazar's own party, The National Union, was formed as a subservient umbrella organisation to support the regime itself, and was therefore lacking in any ideology independent of the regime. It is arguable, therefore, as to whether Salazar's government can truly be considered 'Fascist'. There is no doubt, however, that he admired (or at least respected) both Mussolini and Hitler.
During World War II, Salazar steered Portugal down a middle path. Although a dictator and a supporter of Nationalist Spain (he sent them aid during their fight against the Republicans), like Franco he did not openly side with the Nazis in the war. The Iberian neutrality pact was put forward by Salazar to Franco in 1939. Indeed, Salazar provided aid to the Allies, letting them use the Terceira Island in the Azores as a military base, though he provided little else in the way of support. Siding with the Axis would have meant that Portugal would have been at war with Britain, which would have threatened Portuguese colonies. It is also true, however, that Portugal continued to secretly export tungsten and other goods to the Axis countries, partly via Switzerland.
In 1945 Portugal was in control of the Azores, Madeira, Cape Verde Islands, São Tomé e Principe, Angola (including Cabinda), Portuguese Guinea, and Mozambique in Africa; Goa, Damão (including Dadra and Nagar Haveli), and Diu in India; Macau in China; and Portuguese Timor in Southeast Asia; and Salazar was determined to retain Portuguese control of these territories.
Salazar wanted Portugal to be relevant internationally, and the country's large overseas provinces made this possible, while Portugal itself rejected influence from the Western powers. Portugal was a founding member of NATO in 1949 and this reflected Portugal's role as an ally against communism during the Cold War. During Salazar's tenure, Portugal was also a co-founder of OECD and EFTA.
From the Indian capture of Portuguese cities in 1961 and until after Salazar's death, the overseas provinces remained a continual source of trouble for Portugal, especially in the African colonial wars. Increasingly, Portugal was isolated among other Western countries who were gradually releasing their colonies into independence. In the 1960s, the rebellion of the African colonies intensified. Salazar's attempts to crush it and to maintain intact his dream of the Portuguese empire were widely criticized by newly independent nations and NATO allies alike and cost the lives of many African rebels and civilians as well as soldiers of the Portuguese army, including many Africans.
Economically, the Salazar years were marked by immensely increased growth, from 1950 until his death, Portugal saw its GDP per capita rise at an average rate of 5.66% per year. This made it the second fastest growing economy in Europe behind Francisco Franco's Spain. Salazar was opposed to industrialization, however, seeing it as a threat to rural values and communities.
His reluctance to travel abroad, his increasing stubbornness regarding the status of the Portuguese colonies, to understand the new world order, and to grasp the impossibility of his regime outliving him, marked the final years of his tenure in a generally accepted negative way. "Proudly alone" was the motto of his final decade.
In 1968, Salazar became seriously ill with brain damage after falling from a chair in his summer house, forcing President Américo Tomás to dismiss him as Prime Minister. His successor was Marcello Caetano. It is believed that to his dying day, Salazar thought that he was still Prime Minister of Portugal, but some of his aides claim that he was aware of the situation and just played the game. He died in Lisbon, with no assets of his own, and no family. Thousands paid last respects in the funeral and at the passage of the special train that carried the coffin to his hometown of Santa Comba Dão.
See also
| Preceded by: Domingos da Costa e Oliveira | Prime Minister of Portugal 1932–1968 | Succeeded by: Marcelo Caetano |
| Preceded by: António Óscar Carmona | President of Portugal 1951 | Succeeded by: Craveiro Lopes |
Categories: Prime Ministers of Portugal | Presidents of Portugal | 1889 births | 1970 deaths | World War II political leaders | Fascists
