Antonio de Oliveira Salazar

Antonio Salazar rise to power is due to the image he was able to build as an honest and effective Finance Minister, President Carmona's strong support, and political positioning. The authoritarian government consisted of a right-wing coalition, and Salazar was able to co-opt the moderates of each political current while fighting the extremists, using censorship and repression. The conservative Catholics were his earliest and most loyal supporters.

Never a true monarchist, Salazar nevertheless gained most of the monarchists' support, as the exiled deposed king was given a state funeral at the time of his death. They were given enough symbolic concessions to win over the moderates, and the rest were repressed by the political police.

Antonio Salazar also supported Francisco Franco and the Nationalists in their fight against the left-wing groups of the Spanish Republic. The Nationalists lacked ports early on, and Salazar's Portugal helped receive armaments shipments from abroad - including ammunition early on when certain Nationalist forces were virtually out. Because of this, "the Nationalists referred to Lisbon as 'the port of Castile.'”

Salazar relied on the secret police, PIDE (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado) established in 1945 and lasting till 1969. The job of the secret police was not just to protect national security in a typical modern sense but also to suppress the regime's political opponents, especially those related to the international communist movement or the USSR which was seen by the regime as a menace to Portugal.

The PIDE was efficient, however, it was less overtly brutal than other countries and the foreign polices that were the model for its creation.

During World War II, Salazar steered Portugal down a middle path, but nevertheless provided aid to the Allies: naval bases on Portuguese territory were granted to Britain, in keeping with the traditional Anglo-Portuguese alliance.

Siding with the Axis would have meant that Portugal would have been at war with Britain, which would have threatened Portuguese colonies, while siding with the Allies might prove to be a threat to Portugal itself. Portugal continued to export tungsten and other goods to both the Axis (partly via Switzerland) and Allied countries. Large numbers of Jews and political dissidents sought refuge in Portugal, although until late 1942 immigration was very restricted.

In 1945, Portugal had an extensive colonial Empire, the overseas provinces were a continual source of trouble and wealth for Portugal, especially during the Portuguese Colonial War. Portugal became increasingly isolated on the world stage as other European nations with African colonies gradually granted them independence.

Salazar wanted Portugal to be relevant internationally, and the country's overseas colonies made this possible, while Salazar himself refused to be overawed by the Americans. Portugal was the only non-democracy among the founding members of NATO in 1949, which reflected Portugal's role as an ally against communism during the Cold War.

Throughout the 1950s, Salazar maintained the same import substitution approach to economic policy that had ensured Portugal's neutral status during World War II. The rise of the "new technocrats" in the early 1960s, however, led to a new period of economic opening up, with Portugal as an attractive country for international investment. Industrial development and economic growth would continue all throughout the 1960s.

In the 1960s, armed revolutionary movements and scattered guerrilla activity had reached Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Guinea. Except in Portuguese Guinea, the Portuguese army and naval forces were able to effectively suppress most of these insurgencies through a well-planned counter-insurgency campaign using light infantry, militia, and special operations forces.

Most of the world ostracized the Portuguese government because of its colonial policy, especially the newly-independent African nations. At home, Salazar's regime remained unmistakably authoritarian. He was able to hold onto power with reminders of the instability that had characterized Portuguese political life before 1926.

However, these tactics were decreasingly successful, as a new generation emerged which had no collective memory of this instability. In the 1960s, Salazar's opposition to decolonisation and gradual freedom of the press created friction with the Franco dictatorship.

In the mid sixties Portugal and its colonies found themselves in the front line of the Cold war, with a proxy war which drained Portugal of its resources. Salazar was blamed for a War he had no control over and the consequent impoverishment of his country. Thousands from mainland Portugal fled into neighbouring European countries particularly France to avoid the military draft and the war in africa. Most took up menial jobs and were a convenient source of low cost labour in Europe.