Marcelo Caetano

Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano was born 17 August 1906, a politician and scholar who spent decades in the apparatus of Portugal's authoritarian state. When António de Oliveira Salazar fell from power in 1968, Caetano became the second dictator of the Estado Novo, stepping into the role of President of the Council of Ministers. He held the position for six years, trying to manage a regime already straining under its own weight. In 1974 the Carnation Revolution swept through Lisbon, and Caetano was overthrown. He died 26 October 1980, the last man to rule the old order before it collapsed.