Alfredo Ernesto de Sa Cardoso
(6 June 1864 ? 24 April 1950), commonly known as
Alfredo de Sa Cardoso
(
Portuguese pronunciation:
[al?f?eðu
e??n??tu
ð?
?sa
k???ðozu]
), or just
Sa Cardoso
, was a
Portuguese
republican
politician of the
Portuguese First Republic
who served twice as
Prime Minister of Portugal
.
Life and politics
[
edit
]
Born in
Lisbon
, Sa Cardoso was the son of Adelaide Leopoldina de Sa Cardoso. He entered the
Colegio Militar
and then the
Escola do Exercito
, where his studies focused on artillery. He became an officer of the army and began a decades-long career that would eventually seem him promoted to the rank of general. In 1988, he was mobilized in the
Luanda
military campaign, occupying the post of secretary of the district government and governor of the
fortress of Sao Paulo de Luanda
, and from 1917 to 1918, he was integrated in the
Portuguese Expeditionary Corps
. He also served as a vogal of the Council for Ballistic Works.
He became a
Freemason
in 1893, being initiated in the Portugal Lodge with the symbolic name of
Alaide
, ascending to the 33rd degree, and being part of its Supreme Council since 1934.
He was a member of the
Portuguese Republican Party
, a member of the respective Consultative Junta in 1913, and chief of the party in 1919. He founded the
Reconstitution Party
with
Alvaro de Castro
, and served as president of
Republican Action
, of which he was president. He was an active participant in the republican campaign, since the days of the
Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy
, taking part in the events of 31 January 1890 and 28 January 1908.
He integrated the Military Committee for the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic and was active in the
1910 revolution
. With the republican triumph, he was a cabinet chief of
Correia Barreto
(1910?1911) and then Civil Governor of the
Autonomous District of Funchal
1913?1914. Being a member of the so-called group
Jovem Turquia
(Young Turkey), he co-organized the
1915 revolutionary movement
.
He took part in the resistance against the revolt of
Sidonio Pais
of 5 December 1917, being imprisoned between 1918 and 1919. In this last years, faithful to his republican beliefs, he participated in the offensive against the
Monarchy of the North
. He served as deputy, for
Viana do Castelo
, in 1913, 1915, 1919 and 1922, presiding the
Chamber of Deputies
in the last.
He became
Prime Minister of Portugal
on 29 June 1919 and served for almost a year until 15 January 1920. On the same day
Francisco Jose Fernandes Costa
was taking office, but due to the political instability of the First Republic, he was forced to resign during the same day (his government was called the "Five Minutes' Government"). Sa Cardoso was invited again to form government and he was Prime Minister again from 16 to 21 January 1920, accumulating the Interior (same period) and Foreign Affairs (from 29 June to 12 July 1919). He would participate in another government (of
Alvaro de Castro
) occupying the post of Minister of Interior between 18 December 1923 and 6 July 1924.
With the
1926 revolution
that installed the
Ditadura Nacional
, a military dictatorial administration that would be followed by
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
's authoritarian
Estado Novo
, Alfredo de Sa Cardoso was again arrested in 1926, and forced to live in a regime of fixed residence, first in
Cape Verde
and then in the
Azores
, between 1927 and 1933.
He returned to mainland Portugal in 1934 to found the
Republican and Socialist Alliance
[
pt
]
. Until the end of his life he refused any political post. He married Gabriela Moreira.
[
when?
]
He died in Lisbon on 24 April 1950.
References
[
edit
]
- Guinote et al.,
Ministros e Parlamentares da 1.ª Republica
(Ministers and Parliamentarians of the 1st Republic), Assembleia da Republica (Assembly of the Republic), Lisbon, 1991.