José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior, OTE,

ComA A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

, MPCE (), commonly known as Mendes Cabeçadas (19 August 1883 in Loulé – 11 June 1965 in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

), was a Portuguese Navy officer,

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and republican, having a major role in the preparation of the revolutionary movements that created and ended the Portuguese First Republic: the

5 October revolution 5 October 1910 Revolution () was the overthrow of the centuries-old Portuguese monarchy and its replacement by the First Portuguese Republic. It was the result of a ''coup d'état'' organized by the Portuguese Republican Party. By 1910, the K ...

in 1910 and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926. In the outcome he became the

minister of finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

for one day only on 30 May 1926, then becoming interim minister for foreign affairs for two days between 30 May and 1 June, after which he again became the minister for finance on the same day. He served as the

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

president of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

(the first of the

Military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

) and prime minister for a brief period of time.

Career

Mendes Cabeçadas was one of those responsible for the revolt on board the ship ''Adamastor'', during the Republican Revolution of 1910. However he soon became disappointed with the regime he had helped to create. In 1926 he led the revolution against the First Republic in Lisbon after

Gomes da Costa Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa , commonly known as Manuel Gomes da Costa () or just Gomes da Costa (14 January 1863 – 17 December 1929), was a Portuguese army Officer (armed forces), officer and politician, the List of Presidents of Po ...

had started it in

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

. Prime Minister António Maria da Silva resigned and, just days later (31 May), President

Bernardino Machado Bernardino Luíz Machado Guimarães (March 28, 1851April 29, 1944) was the 3th and 8th president of Portugal, serving from 1915 to 1917 and again from 1925 to 1926. In 1917, Sidónio Pais, who was at the head of a military junta, dissolved Co ...

named him prime minister. On the same day the President also resigned and Mendes Cabeçadas assumed the role of President of the Republic. As a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

with moderate tendencies, Mendes Cabeçadas thought it possible to form a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

that wouldn't question the constitutional regime, but with no influence on the Democratic Party. However the other revolutionaries (among them

and Óscar Carmona) judged him as incapable and in a meeting in Sacavém on 17 June 1926, Mendes Cabeçadas was forced to renounce the posts of president of the republic and president of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) in favour of

. Mendes Cabeçadas joined the opposition to the regime for a third time, involving himself in several revolutionary attempts and subscribed to many manifestos against the dictatorship, until his death in 1965 during the period known as the Estado Novo (New State), headed by

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman, academic, and economist who served as Portugal's President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal, President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1 ...

Personal life

Mendes Cabeçadas married Maria das Dores Formosinho Vieira ( Silves, 6 January 1880 – 22 December 1949) in Santa Isabel,

, in March 1911. The couple had four daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes Cabecadas, Jose 1883 births 1965 deaths Naval ministers of Portugal People from Loulé Portuguese republicans Presidents of Portugal Prime ministers of Portugal Finance ministers of Portugal 20th-century Portuguese military personnel Government ministers of Portugal Portuguese anti-fascists Leaders who took power by coup 19th-century Portuguese people 20th-century Portuguese politicians Portuguese revolutionaries Recipients of the Order of the Tower and Sword Commanders of the Order of Aviz 20th-century presidents in Europe Portuguese Freemasons

Career

Personal life

See also

References