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Óscar Carmona | |
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![]() Official portrait, 1930-1940 | |
11th President of Portugal | |
In office 16 November 1926[1] – 18 April 1951 | |
Prime Minister | Himself José Vicente de Freitas Artur Ivens Ferraz Domingos Oliveira António de Oliveira Salazar |
Preceded by | Manuel Gomes da Costa |
Succeeded by | Francisco Craveiro Lopes |
Prime Minister of Portugal | |
In office 9 July 1926 – 18 April 1928 | |
President | Himself |
Deputy | Abílio Passos e Sousa |
Preceded by | Manuel Gomes da Costa |
Succeeded by | José Vicente de Freitas |
Ministerial portfolios | |
1923–1923 | War |
1926–1926 | Foreign Affairs |
1926–1926 | War |
Sep 1926 | Foreign Affairs (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona (1869-11-24)24 November 1869 Lisbon, Portugal |
Died | 18 April 1951(1951-04-18) (aged 81) Lisbon, Portugal |
Political party | National Union (1932–1951) |
Spouse | Maria do Carmo da Silva |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | Military Academy |
Profession | Army officer |
Awards | Order of Christ Order of Aviz Order of St. James of the Sword |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1889–1951 |
Rank | Marshal |
António Óscar de Fragoso CarmonaComAComSEComCGCA (Portuguese pronunciation:[ɐ̃ˈtɔniuˈɔʃkaɾfɾɐˈɣozukaɾˈmonɐ]; 24 November 1869 – 18 April 1951) was aPortuguese Army officer and politician who served asprime minister of Portugal from 1926 to 1928 and as the 11thpresident of Portugal from 1926 until his death in 1951. He also served as theMinister of War, in late 1923 and in 1926, and as aMinister of Foreign Affairs in 1926.
Carmona was arepublican and aFreemason, and was a quick adherent to the proclamation of thePortuguese First Republic on5 October 1910. He was, however, never a sympathizer of the democratic form of government, and – as he would later confess in an interview toAntónio Ferro – he only voted for the first time at the1933 constitutional referendum. During the First Republic, he briefly served as Minister of War in the cabinet ofAntónio Ginestal Machado in 1923. Unlike the popular marshalGomes da Costa, Carmona had not seen action inWorld War I.
Carmona was very active in the28 May 1926 coup d'état that overthrew the First Republic. The first Council President, the commandantJosé Mendes Cabeçadas, a democratic sympathizer supported by the last republican president,Bernardino Machado, was succeeded in June byManuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa. Carmona, who had been theMinister for Foreign Affairs between 3 June and 6 July, was the leader of the most conservative and authoritarian wing of the military regime, which considered the more moderate Gomes da Costa a liability. On 9 July, he led a countercoup together with generalJoão José Sinel de Cordes, named himself both President and Prime Minister, and immediately assumed dictatorial powers. He was formally elected to the office in 1928, as the only candidate.
In 1928 Carmona appointedAntónio de Oliveira Salazar asMinister of Finance. Impressed by Salazar's charisma and qualities, Carmona nominated Salazar asPrime Minister in 1932, and largely turned over control of the government to him.
In 1933, a new constitution officially established the "Estado Novo". On paper, the new document codified the dictatorial powers Carmona had exercised since 1926. However, in practice he left most of the day-to-day work of governing to Salazar. For all practical purposes, Carmona was now little more than a figurehead; Salazar held the real power. On paper, the president's power to dismiss Salazar was the only check on his power. However, Carmona mostly allowed Salazar a free hand. He was re-elected without opposition in 1935 and 1942 for seven-year terms. In 1935, he signed the law that forbade Freemasonry in Portugal reluctantly, due to his own Freemason past.
Although the democratic opposition was allowed to contest elections after World War II, Carmona was not on friendly terms with it. When the opposition demanded that the elections be delayed in order to give them more time to organize, Carmona turned them down.
However, there were widespread rumors that Carmona supported the failed military uprising in 1947, which was led by general José Marques Godinho to overthrow Salazar, under the condition that he would remain as President of the Republic. Probably to end these rumors, Carmona finally accepted the title of Marshal.
In 1949, Carmona, 79 years old, sought his fourth term as president. For the first time, he actually faced an opponent in GeneralJosé Norton de Matos. However, it soon became apparent that Salazar would not allow Matos to actually run a campaign. The persecution grew so severe that Matos pulled out of the race on 12 February, handing Carmona another term.
Carmona died two years later, in 1951, after 24 years as the President of the Republic. He was buried in theChurch of Santa Engrácia, National Pantheon, inLisbon.
He was born to Maria Inês Côrte-Real de Melo Fragoso[2] and Alvaro Rosario Teixeira Carmona, a Portuguese Naval officer fromFelgueiras, based inBrazil and part of the Portuguese Military Attache's staff in Brazil. In January 1914, Carmona married Maria do Carmo Ferreira da Silva (Chaves, 28 September 1878 – 13 March 1956), daughter of Germano da Silva and wife Engrácia de Jesus. With this marriage, he legitimized their three children.
He was the grand-uncle of the formerMayor ofLisbonCarmona Rodrigues (2004–2007). He was also the cousin of Brazilian PresidentAugusto Tasso Fragoso.[3]
His personal library was purchased by the National Library of Australia in 1967/8.[4]
Carmona wrote a book of rules for the Cavalry School in 1913.
The town ofUíge,Angola, used to be called Carmona after him.[7] It had that name until 1975 when the PortugueseOverseas Province of Angola became independent. He was also portrayed in theAngolan escudo banknote issue of 1972.[8]
Preceded by King of Sweden Gustaf V | The oldest current head of state 29 October 1950 - 18 April 1951 | Succeeded by President of Finland Juho Kusti Paasikivi |
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | Prime Minister of Portugal 1926–1928 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | President of Portugal 1926–1951 | Succeeded by |
Ancestors of António Óscar Fragoso Carmona | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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