José Mendes Cabeçadas

José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior (19 August 1883, Loulé – 11 June 1965, Lisbon) was a Portuguese soldier, sailor and politician.

He participated in the revolution of 5 October 1910, which overthrew the monarchy and established the First Portuguese Republic (he led the rebellion on board the ship Adamastor) and in the coup d'état of 28 May 1926, which ended the existence of the First Republic and established an authoritarian regime called the Ditadura Nacional.

He then served as President of Portugal and Prime Minister from 31 May 1926 to 16 June 1926, a mere seventeen days. In addition, he held a number of other government positions in the crucial year of 1926: Minister of the Interior, Minister of Trade and Communications, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of the Navy, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Colonies, Minister of Education, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of War.

However, he was quickly ousted from all positions by other rebels (Gomes da Costa, Óscar Carmona), who did not like that he was not very radical. Mendes Cabeçadas believed that it was possible to establish a regime that would not explicitly violate the 1911 constitution, but would only remove the Democratic Party from power. However, the other army rebels sought an outright dictatorship. Mendes Cabeçadas later joined the opposition to the new regime and Salazar's Estado Novo regime. He participated in several military attempts to overthrow it (1946, 1947).

He was arrested, but was eventually forced into retirement. He opposed the dictatorship until his death. His funeral, which was attended by many opposition figures, was closely monitored by the secret police.

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