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Sidónio Pais

Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais CavC OA CavA (pronounced [siˈðɔnju ˈpajʃ]; 1 May 1872 – 14 December 1918) was a Portuguese politician, military officer, and diplomat, who served as the fourth president of the First Portuguese Republic in 1918. One of the most divisive figures in modern Portuguese history, he was referred to by the writer Fernando Pessoa as the "President-King", a description that stuck in later years and symbolizes his regime.[1]

Sidónio Pais
Pais in uniform, c. 1918
President of Portugal
In office
9 May 1918 – 14 December 1918
Prime MinisterHimself (de facto)
Preceded byBernardino Machado
Succeeded byJoão do Canto e Castro
Prime Minister of Portugal
In office
12 December 1917 – 9 May 1918
PresidentCabinet (ex officio)
Himself (acting)
Preceded byRevolutionary Junta
Succeeded byJoão Tamagnini Barbosa
President of the Revolutionary Junta
In office
8 December 1917 – 12 December 1917
PresidentBernardino Machado
Preceded byAfonso Costa (Prime Minister)
Succeeded byHimself (Prime Minister)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
11 December 1917 – 9 May 1918
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byRevolutionary Junta
Succeeded byFrancisco Xavier Esteves
Minister of War
In office
11 December 1917 – 9 May 1918
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byRevolutionary Junta
Succeeded byJoão Tamagnini Barbosa
Ambassador of Portugal to Germany
In office
17 September 1912 – 10 March 1916
Nominated byManuel de Arriaga
Preceded byViscount of Pindela
Succeeded byJosé Maria Lambertini Pinto
Minister of Finance
In office
12 November 1911 – 16 June 1912
Prime MinisterAugusto de Vasconcelos
Preceded byDuarte Leite
Succeeded byAntónio Vicente Ferreira
Minister of Commerce and Public Works
In office
4 September 1911 – 12 November 1911
Prime MinisterJoão Chagas
Preceded byManuel de Brito Camacho
Succeeded byEstêvão de Vasconcelos
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
15 June 1911 – 26 November 1912
ConstituencyAveiro
Personal details
Born
Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais

(1872-05-01)1 May 1872
Caminha, Portugal
Died14 December 1918(1918-12-14) (aged 46)
St. Joseph Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal
Manner of deathAssassination
Resting placeNational Pantheon, Lisbon, Portugal
Political partyNational Republican (Sidonist)
Spouse
Maria dos Prazeres Martins Bessa
(m. 1895)
RelationsBernardo Sassetti (great-grandson)
Children6
EducationLiceu de Viana do Castelo
Alma materMilitary Academy
University of Coimbra
Signature
NicknamePresident-King
Military service
Allegiance Portugal
Branch/service Portuguese Army
Years of service1888–1918
RankMajor

Early life edit

Pais was born in Caminha, 1 May 1872, the eldest child of Sidónio Alberto Marrocos Pais, a notary of Jewish descent, and Rita Júlia Cardoso da Silva, both natives of Caminha.[2]

He completed his primary education in Sertã, where he lived between the ages of 7 and 11, and completed his secondary education at the Lyceum of Viana do Castelo (Santa Maria Maior High School), after which he went to Coimbra in order to take preparatory courses in mathematics and philosophy. In 1888, he decided upon a military career and entered the Army School, attending artillery courses. An outstanding student, he completed his courses with distinction, and was promoted to sub-lieutenant (alferes) in 1892, lieutenant in 1895, captain in 1906 and major in 1916.[3]

Upon completion of his courses at the Army School, Pais enrolled at the University of Coimbra, where he graduated in mathematics. He received his doctorate at the same university in 1898.

Politics edit

Already during his time in Coimbra, in the waning years of the Portuguese Monarchy, Pais had given vent to his republican ideals. During this period he also belonged for a short period to a masonic lodge in Coimbra, although he does not appear to have been very active.

By now considered to be a distinguished mathematician, he remained in Coimbra, where he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Differential and Integral Calculus. He also worked as a professor at the Brotero Industrial School, where he was also a director from 1905 to 1909. On 23 October 1910 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the university, under Rector Manuel de Arriaga.

As a leading Republican, Pais was catapulted into active political life after the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910. After a brief membership of the managing board of the national railway company, he was elected as a deputy of the National Constituent Assembly that was charged with drafting the Portuguese Constitution of 1911.[2] As a leading member of the Constituent Assembly, Pais was appointed Minister of Public Works in the government chaired by João Chagas, assuming his office on 24 August 1911. In this post, which he held until 3 November 1911, he represented the government during the festivities that marked the first anniversary of the Republic in the city of Porto.

After the fall of the Chagas government, he kept his place in government by taking up the post of Finance Minister in Augusto de Vasconcelos' "Government of concentration". Taking office on 7 November 1911, he held on to this position until 16 June 1912.

At a moment when international tensions that would lead to World War I already made themselves felt, Pais was appointed to the post of Minister Plenipotentiary (ambassador) of Portugal in Berlin on 17 August 1912.[2] He remained in that important diplomatic post during the critical period that led to the outbreak of the war, maintaining a difficult balance between the pressures of the Portuguese Government, with increasingly pro-war and Anglophile viewpoints, attempts to settle diplomatically border conflicts in areas of contact between the Portuguese and German colonies in Africa, and his own increasingly Germanophile position. Despite these difficulties, he held the position until 9 March 1916, the date on which Germany declared war on Portugal following the seizure of German ships in ports under Portuguese control.

Government and presidency edit

Back in Portugal, he formed a natural rallying point for those who opposed Portugal's participation in the war, catalyzing the growing discontent caused by both the effects of the war effort at home and the poor results obtained by the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps at the front. He became the main leader of opposition to Afonso Costa's Democratic Party government, and from 5 to 8 December 1917, he led an insurrection by around 250 troops. The coup ended victoriously after three days of heavy confrontations, in which the role of civil groups was decisive for the insurgents' success. On the morning of 8 December Costa handed over power to Pais' military junta.[2]

Instead of starting the usual consultation for the formation of a new government, the rebels took power, removing Bernardino Machado from the post of President of the Republic and forcing his exile. Subsequently, on 11 December 1917, Sidónio Pais took over as President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister), and in addition accumulated the portfolios of War Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also took over (on 27 December) the functions of President until a new election could be organized early in the new year.[4] All of these actions were in direct violation of the Constitution of 1911, which he himself had helped to draft. During the coup and the early stages of his government, Sidónio Pais enjoyed the support of various labor groups, in exchange for the release of imprisoned comrades, and because of expectations inside the influential National Workers' Union, which looked to position itself as a centre of power of the republican left.[2][5]

Subsequently, Pais issued a set of dictatorial decrees, without consulting the Congress of the Republic, and suspended important parts of the Constitution, giving the regime a markedly presidential image. The President of the Republic in effect became Head of State and leader of the Government, which, significantly, was entirely composed of state secretaries instead of (higher-ranked) ministers. In this new political architecture, which his supporters called a "New Republic", the Head of State was placed in a position of power that had known no parallel in Portuguese history since the end of absolutism. Hence, Pessoa's epithet of a "President-King" was well-deserved.[6] In its objectives and in many of its forms, the New Republic was a precursor of the Estado Novo of António de Oliveira Salazar.

In an attempt to normalize relations with the Roman Catholic Church Sidónio Pais amended the Law of Separation of Church and State on 23 February 1918. This prompted an immediate, fierce reaction from traditional Republicans and Freemasons, but garnered widespread support from Catholics, moderate Republicans, and the rural population, then the vast majority of the Portuguese population. This decision also re-established diplomatic relations with the Vatican, which appointed Monsignor Benedetto Aloisi Masella (later to be nuncio in Brazil, cardinal, and camerlengo) as apostolic nuncio in Lisbon on 25 July 1918.

 
Sidónio Pais is sworn in as President of the Republic.

In another unconstitutional move, Pais on 11 March 1918 decreed the direct election of the President by plebiscite, through universal suffrage. Making use of his popularity among Catholics, he was elected on 28 April 1918, obtaining 470,831 votes, an unprecedented number. He was proclaimed President of the Republic on 9 May of the same year, without even bothering to consult Congress, and enjoying direct democratic legitimacy, which he used – unsuccessfully – to crush opposition attempts.

The decrees of February and March 1918, which because their profound contradiction with the current constitution were labeled the "Constitution of 1918", profoundly altered the Portuguese Constitution of 1911 and lent the regime a clear presidential character, revamped electoral law, and changed the laws on the separation of Church and State and the very distribution of power among the organs of state.

However, in April 1918, the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps was slaughtered at the Battle of the Lys, and the Portuguese government was unable to bring in necessary reinforcements or even maintain a regular supply of troops. The situation reached such an extreme that, even after the end of the war, Portugal was unable to transport its troops back to the country. Social conflict had increased to the point of creating a permanent state of insurrection.

This situation marked the end of the regime's charmed existence. Between alternating strikes, conflicts, and conspiracies, from the summer of 1918 onwards attempts to end the "Sidonist" regime escalated in severity and violence, which led the President to declare a state of emergency on 13 October 1918. With that act, and the harsh repression of opposing movements, he was able to regain momentary control of the political situation, but his regime was clearly mortally wounded.

As the year came to an end, the political situation did not improve, despite the end of fighting with the Armistice of 11 November 1918, an event accompanied by an affectionate message from King George V of the United Kingdom, who attempted to play down Sidónio Pais' previous, and well-known, pro-German attitudes.

Assassination edit

 
Assassination of Sidónio Pais on Rossio railway station.

Pais escaped a first assassination attempt on 5 December 1918, during the award ceremony for survivors of the navy trawler Augusto de Castilho. Nine days later, however, he fell victim to the second.

The president made his way to the Lisboa-Rossio Railway Station on the evening of 14 December 1918, after having enjoyed dinner at the restaurant Silva, located in the Chiado. He was accompanied by his brother and his son, planning to take the train to Porto in order to confer with the Northern Military Juntas. When he entered the station at around 11 PM, he was received by a Republican Guard ordered to protect the President. The earlier, failed assassination attempt on the President had led to an increase in security. However, this couldn't ruin the mood as a band played a popular song when the President entered the station.[7]

Inside the station, the left-wing activist José Júlio da Costa was waiting for him, concealing a pistol in his Alentejo cloak. When the President passed the assassin on the first floor of Rossio station, Da Costa penetrated the double police cordon that surrounded the President and fired two shots from the pistol hidden under his cloak. The first shot hit Pais in the right arm, where the bullet became lodged. The second shot hit the President in the stomach, causing a wound which would prove fatal. Pais immediately fell to the ground, and a panic broke out. During the confusion, four innocent bystanders were fatally wounded by the guards; the assassin, who didn't try to escape, was arrested after being brutally beaten by the crowd.[8] Pais was still alive at this point and was rushed toward St. Joseph Hospital, but he died of his wounds en route to the hospital shortly before midnight.

Sidónio Pais's funeral was attended by tens of thousands of people, but multiple interruptions, some of them violent, took place as protesters mingled among the crowd. On 16 December, João do Canto e Castro was chosen as his successor by the Congress of the Republic rather than through a new plebiscite.

Legacy edit

The murder of Sidónio Pais heralded a traumatic time for the First Republic. Essentially a populist, charismatic leader, Pais portrayed himself as the last hope of a doomed country, and was widely perceived as such. This explains why his assassination had such a huge, and long-lasting influence on Portuguese politics.[9] From then on, most political stability disappeared, leading to a permanent crisis that only ended nearly eight years later when the 28 May 1926 coup d'état set up the ensuing forty years of dictatorship.

Douglas Wheeler tries to explain Pais' attractiveness as a leader (and later, a cult figure) by pointing to his character:

His personality combined attractive social qualities and strength of character. A contemporary observer described him as "half prince, half condottiere," and a member of his short-lived parliament in 1918 explained his public attractiveness by suggesting that he possessed "spiritual mimetism," an ability to mimic faithfully several current traits and images. His versatility was extraordinary, but what distinguished him in contemporary Portuguese politics was his readiness to discuss difficult issues openly and to admit in public that he was capable of making mistakes.[10]

The writer Fernando Pessoa admiringly referred to Pais as the "President-King" (Presidente-Rei), a description that stuck in later years because it adequately symbolized his regime.[1] Particularly among the most conservative Catholic groups, Pais entered the Portuguese imagination as a mix of a savior and a martyr, and caused the emergence of a popular cult, similar to the one existing around the figure of José Tomás de Sousa Martins, which endures until today. It is common to see fresh flowers and religious symbols being laid at his tomb. This is mainly due to his reversal of some early republican anti-clerical laws. But it seems somewhat ironic that his name lives on most vividly in these circles since Pais was not a particularly religious man himself.

 
Street sign for Avenida de Sidónio Pais in Macau, Macao

Pais must carry some of the responsibility for subsequent dictatorships because of his autocratic style of government and the removal of any remaining checks on the regime. The ineffectuality of his regime failed to bring the order it had promised and only contributed to the chaos of the First Republic and the undermining of its legitimacy.

The Estado Novo regime that controlled Portugal during much of the 20th century exploited the legacy and associations of "Sidonism" to its advantage. For instance, when the Portuguese National Pantheon was inaugurated in 1966, the authorities had Pais's body transferred to it from the Room of the Chapter of the Jeronimos Monastery, where it had been interred previously.

Family and descendants edit

Pais married Maria dos Prazeres Martins Bessa (Amarante, São Gonçalo, 1868/1869 – Porto?/Lisbon, 1945) in 1895. The couple had five children, four sons and one daughter. Out of wedlock, he also had one daughter by one Ema Manso Preto. He is the great-grandfather in the male line of pianist and composer Bernardo Sassetti (1970–2012).[citation needed]

Museum plans edit

In 2002, Caminha's Câmara Municipal purchased the ruin of Pais' birthplace for 175,000 Euros. The architect Nuno Brandão Costa was asked in 2009 to turn the house into a museum. The basement should house a room dedicated to Pais's presidency, with a second hall devoted to his life on the ground floor. The first floor will be turned into a documentation center. The costs of the conversion are estimated to be one million Euros.[11] There appears to have been made little to no progress after the mid-2010s, however.

Honours edit

Notes edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Fernando Pessoa (1918). "À memoria do Presidente-Rei Sidónio Pais". Quoted in Darlene Joy Sadler (1998), An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa: Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship. Gainesville etc.: University of Florida Press, p. 45.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Sidónio Pais". Porto Editora. Infopédia. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  3. ^ António Malheiro da Silva (2006). Sidónio e Sidonismo. Vol. 1, história de uma vida. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  4. ^ This was legitimized by Decree No. 3701, on the same day.
  5. ^ Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses (1998). "Sidónio Pais, the Portuguese 'New Republic' and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe". European History Quarterly, Vol.28(1), 111-113.
  6. ^ Fernando Pessoa, "A Memória do Presidente-Rei Sidónio Pais (27-2-1920)", in: Maria Isabel Rocheta and Maria Paula Mourão, eds. (1979), Da República (1910 - 1935). Introdução e organização de Joel Serrão). Lisboa: Ática.
  7. ^ "Death of Sidónio Pais". Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  8. ^ . 2013. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  9. ^ Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses (1998). "Sidónio Pais, the Portuguese 'New Republic' and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe". European History Quarterly, Vol.28(1), pp. 109–130.
  10. ^ Wheeler, Douglas L. (1978). Republican Portugal. A Political History, 1910–1926. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, p. 142.
  11. ^ . Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  12. ^ a b c "CIDADÃOS NACIONAIS AGRACIADOS COM ORDENS PORTUGUESAS – Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas". ordens.presidencia.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 7 August 2017.

Bibliography edit

  • Anon. Fotobiografias do Século XX, Photobiography of Sidónio Pais, Círculo de Leitores.
  • Carles i Pomar, Angéls (2011). Juntes Militars versus Juntes de Defensa. Militarisme a Espanya i Portugal al final de la Gran Guerra. Ph.D. Thesis Pompeu Fabra University.
  • Diego Palacios Cerezales (2004). "Verdes e Vermelhos. Portugal e a Guerra no Ano de Sidónio Pais". Análise Social, 171), pp. 469–472.
  • Malheiro da Silva, Antonio (2006). Sidónio e Sidonismo. Vol. 1, história de uma vida. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  • Malheiro da Silva, Antonio (2006). Sidónio e Sidonismo. Vol. 2, história de um caso político. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  • Malheiro da Silva, Antonio (2009). Sidónio Pais na história. Repositório Cientfico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal.
  • Ribeiro de Meneses, Filipe (1998). "Sidónio Pais, the Portuguese 'New Republic' and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe". European History Quarterly, Vol. 28(1), pp. 109–130.
  • Rodríguez Gaytán de Ayala, Ana (2006). Orden en Portugal: la República Nova de Sidónio Pais (1917–1919). Cáceres: Junta de Extremadura, Consejería de Cultura.
  • Samara, Alice (2006. Sidónio Pais. Fotobiografia. Lisboa: Museu da Presidência da República.
  • Wheeler, Douglas L. (1978). Republican Portugal. A Political History, 1910–1926. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. See particularly pp. 139–154.

External links edit

  • Sidónio Pais page in the English version of the site of the Portuguese Presidency of the Republic
  • Sidónio Pais at the Fundação Mário Soares page
  • Sidónio Pais at the Portugal – Dicionário Histórico (Portugal – Historical Dictionary)
  • Sidónio Pais in the Vidas Lusófonas (Lusophone Lives)
  • Moving images of Sidónio Pais on the day of his inauguration as President of the Republic (YouTube)
Political offices
Preceded by President of Portugal
1917–1918
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Portugal
1917–1918
Succeeded by

sidónio, pais, this, portuguese, name, first, maternal, family, name, cardoso, silva, second, paternal, family, name, pais, sidónio, bernardino, cardoso, silva, pais, cavc, cava, pronounced, siˈðɔnju, ˈpajʃ, 1872, december, 1918, portuguese, politician, milita. In this Portuguese name the first or maternal family name is Cardoso da Silva and the second or paternal family name is Pais Sidonio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais CavC OA CavA pronounced siˈdɔnju ˈpajʃ 1 May 1872 14 December 1918 was a Portuguese politician military officer and diplomat who served as the fourth president of the First Portuguese Republic in 1918 One of the most divisive figures in modern Portuguese history he was referred to by the writer Fernando Pessoa as the President King a description that stuck in later years and symbolizes his regime 1 His ExcellencySidonio PaisCavC OA CavAPais in uniform c 1918President of PortugalIn office 9 May 1918 14 December 1918Prime MinisterHimself de facto Preceded byBernardino MachadoSucceeded byJoao do Canto e CastroPrime Minister of PortugalIn office 12 December 1917 9 May 1918PresidentCabinet ex officio Himself acting Preceded byRevolutionary JuntaSucceeded byJoao Tamagnini BarbosaPresident of the Revolutionary JuntaIn office 8 December 1917 12 December 1917PresidentBernardino MachadoPreceded byAfonso Costa Prime Minister Succeeded byHimself Prime Minister Minister of Foreign AffairsIn office 11 December 1917 9 May 1918Prime MinisterHimselfPreceded byRevolutionary JuntaSucceeded byFrancisco Xavier EstevesMinister of WarIn office 11 December 1917 9 May 1918Prime MinisterHimselfPreceded byRevolutionary JuntaSucceeded byJoao Tamagnini BarbosaAmbassador of Portugal to GermanyIn office 17 September 1912 10 March 1916Nominated byManuel de ArriagaPreceded byViscount of PindelaSucceeded byJose Maria Lambertini PintoMinister of FinanceIn office 12 November 1911 16 June 1912Prime MinisterAugusto de VasconcelosPreceded byDuarte LeiteSucceeded byAntonio Vicente FerreiraMinister of Commerce and Public WorksIn office 4 September 1911 12 November 1911Prime MinisterJoao ChagasPreceded byManuel de Brito CamachoSucceeded byEstevao de VasconcelosMember of the Chamber of DeputiesIn office 15 June 1911 26 November 1912ConstituencyAveiroPersonal detailsBornSidonio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais 1872 05 01 1 May 1872Caminha PortugalDied14 December 1918 1918 12 14 aged 46 St Joseph Hospital Lisbon PortugalManner of deathAssassinationResting placeNational Pantheon Lisbon PortugalPolitical partyNational Republican Sidonist SpouseMaria dos Prazeres Martins Bessa m 1895 wbr RelationsBernardo Sassetti great grandson Children6EducationLiceu de Viana do CasteloAlma materMilitary AcademyUniversity of CoimbraSignatureNicknamePresident KingMilitary serviceAllegiance PortugalBranch service Portuguese ArmyYears of service1888 1918RankMajor Contents 1 Early life 2 Politics 3 Government and presidency 4 Assassination 5 Legacy 6 Family and descendants 7 Museum plans 8 Honours 9 Notes 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External linksEarly life editPais was born in Caminha 1 May 1872 the eldest child of Sidonio Alberto Marrocos Pais a notary of Jewish descent and Rita Julia Cardoso da Silva both natives of Caminha 2 He completed his primary education in Serta where he lived between the ages of 7 and 11 and completed his secondary education at the Lyceum of Viana do Castelo Santa Maria Maior High School after which he went to Coimbra in order to take preparatory courses in mathematics and philosophy In 1888 he decided upon a military career and entered the Army School attending artillery courses An outstanding student he completed his courses with distinction and was promoted to sub lieutenant alferes in 1892 lieutenant in 1895 captain in 1906 and major in 1916 3 Upon completion of his courses at the Army School Pais enrolled at the University of Coimbra where he graduated in mathematics He received his doctorate at the same university in 1898 Politics editAlready during his time in Coimbra in the waning years of the Portuguese Monarchy Pais had given vent to his republican ideals During this period he also belonged for a short period to a masonic lodge in Coimbra although he does not appear to have been very active By now considered to be a distinguished mathematician he remained in Coimbra where he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Differential and Integral Calculus He also worked as a professor at the Brotero Industrial School where he was also a director from 1905 to 1909 On 23 October 1910 he was appointed vice chancellor of the university under Rector Manuel de Arriaga As a leading Republican Pais was catapulted into active political life after the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910 After a brief membership of the managing board of the national railway company he was elected as a deputy of the National Constituent Assembly that was charged with drafting the Portuguese Constitution of 1911 2 As a leading member of the Constituent Assembly Pais was appointed Minister of Public Works in the government chaired by Joao Chagas assuming his office on 24 August 1911 In this post which he held until 3 November 1911 he represented the government during the festivities that marked the first anniversary of the Republic in the city of Porto After the fall of the Chagas government he kept his place in government by taking up the post of Finance Minister in Augusto de Vasconcelos Government of concentration Taking office on 7 November 1911 he held on to this position until 16 June 1912 At a moment when international tensions that would lead to World War I already made themselves felt Pais was appointed to the post of Minister Plenipotentiary ambassador of Portugal in Berlin on 17 August 1912 2 He remained in that important diplomatic post during the critical period that led to the outbreak of the war maintaining a difficult balance between the pressures of the Portuguese Government with increasingly pro war and Anglophile viewpoints attempts to settle diplomatically border conflicts in areas of contact between the Portuguese and German colonies in Africa and his own increasingly Germanophile position Despite these difficulties he held the position until 9 March 1916 the date on which Germany declared war on Portugal following the seizure of German ships in ports under Portuguese control Government and presidency editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Sidonio Pais news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Back in Portugal he formed a natural rallying point for those who opposed Portugal s participation in the war catalyzing the growing discontent caused by both the effects of the war effort at home and the poor results obtained by the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps at the front He became the main leader of opposition to Afonso Costa s Democratic Party government and from 5 to 8 December 1917 he led an insurrection by around 250 troops The coup ended victoriously after three days of heavy confrontations in which the role of civil groups was decisive for the insurgents success On the morning of 8 December Costa handed over power to Pais military junta 2 Instead of starting the usual consultation for the formation of a new government the rebels took power removing Bernardino Machado from the post of President of the Republic and forcing his exile Subsequently on 11 December 1917 Sidonio Pais took over as President of the Council of Ministers Prime Minister and in addition accumulated the portfolios of War Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs He also took over on 27 December the functions of President until a new election could be organized early in the new year 4 All of these actions were in direct violation of the Constitution of 1911 which he himself had helped to draft During the coup and the early stages of his government Sidonio Pais enjoyed the support of various labor groups in exchange for the release of imprisoned comrades and because of expectations inside the influential National Workers Union which looked to position itself as a centre of power of the republican left 2 5 Subsequently Pais issued a set of dictatorial decrees without consulting the Congress of the Republic and suspended important parts of the Constitution giving the regime a markedly presidential image The President of the Republic in effect became Head of State and leader of the Government which significantly was entirely composed of state secretaries instead of higher ranked ministers In this new political architecture which his supporters called a New Republic the Head of State was placed in a position of power that had known no parallel in Portuguese history since the end of absolutism Hence Pessoa s epithet of a President King was well deserved 6 In its objectives and in many of its forms the New Republic was a precursor of the Estado Novo of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar In an attempt to normalize relations with the Roman Catholic Church Sidonio Pais amended the Law of Separation of Church and State on 23 February 1918 This prompted an immediate fierce reaction from traditional Republicans and Freemasons but garnered widespread support from Catholics moderate Republicans and the rural population then the vast majority of the Portuguese population This decision also re established diplomatic relations with the Vatican which appointed Monsignor Benedetto Aloisi Masella later to be nuncio in Brazil cardinal and camerlengo as apostolic nuncio in Lisbon on 25 July 1918 nbsp Sidonio Pais is sworn in as President of the Republic In another unconstitutional move Pais on 11 March 1918 decreed the direct election of the President by plebiscite through universal suffrage Making use of his popularity among Catholics he was elected on 28 April 1918 obtaining 470 831 votes an unprecedented number He was proclaimed President of the Republic on 9 May of the same year without even bothering to consult Congress and enjoying direct democratic legitimacy which he used unsuccessfully to crush opposition attempts The decrees of February and March 1918 which because their profound contradiction with the current constitution were labeled the Constitution of 1918 profoundly altered the Portuguese Constitution of 1911 and lent the regime a clear presidential character revamped electoral law and changed the laws on the separation of Church and State and the very distribution of power among the organs of state However in April 1918 the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps was slaughtered at the Battle of the Lys and the Portuguese government was unable to bring in necessary reinforcements or even maintain a regular supply of troops The situation reached such an extreme that even after the end of the war Portugal was unable to transport its troops back to the country Social conflict had increased to the point of creating a permanent state of insurrection This situation marked the end of the regime s charmed existence Between alternating strikes conflicts and conspiracies from the summer of 1918 onwards attempts to end the Sidonist regime escalated in severity and violence which led the President to declare a state of emergency on 13 October 1918 With that act and the harsh repression of opposing movements he was able to regain momentary control of the political situation but his regime was clearly mortally wounded As the year came to an end the political situation did not improve despite the end of fighting with the Armistice of 11 November 1918 an event accompanied by an affectionate message from King George V of the United Kingdom who attempted to play down Sidonio Pais previous and well known pro German attitudes Assassination editMain article Assassination of Sidonio Pais nbsp Assassination of Sidonio Pais on Rossio railway station Pais escaped a first assassination attempt on 5 December 1918 during the award ceremony for survivors of the navy trawler Augusto de Castilho Nine days later however he fell victim to the second The president made his way to the Lisboa Rossio Railway Station on the evening of 14 December 1918 after having enjoyed dinner at the restaurant Silva located in the Chiado He was accompanied by his brother and his son planning to take the train to Porto in order to confer with the Northern Military Juntas When he entered the station at around 11 PM he was received by a Republican Guard ordered to protect the President The earlier failed assassination attempt on the President had led to an increase in security However this couldn t ruin the mood as a band played a popular song when the President entered the station 7 Inside the station the left wing activist Jose Julio da Costa was waiting for him concealing a pistol in his Alentejo cloak When the President passed the assassin on the first floor of Rossio station Da Costa penetrated the double police cordon that surrounded the President and fired two shots from the pistol hidden under his cloak The first shot hit Pais in the right arm where the bullet became lodged The second shot hit the President in the stomach causing a wound which would prove fatal Pais immediately fell to the ground and a panic broke out During the confusion four innocent bystanders were fatally wounded by the guards the assassin who didn t try to escape was arrested after being brutally beaten by the crowd 8 Pais was still alive at this point and was rushed toward St Joseph Hospital but he died of his wounds en route to the hospital shortly before midnight Sidonio Pais s funeral was attended by tens of thousands of people but multiple interruptions some of them violent took place as protesters mingled among the crowd On 16 December Joao do Canto e Castro was chosen as his successor by the Congress of the Republic rather than through a new plebiscite Legacy editThe murder of Sidonio Pais heralded a traumatic time for the First Republic Essentially a populist charismatic leader Pais portrayed himself as the last hope of a doomed country and was widely perceived as such This explains why his assassination had such a huge and long lasting influence on Portuguese politics 9 From then on most political stability disappeared leading to a permanent crisis that only ended nearly eight years later when the 28 May 1926 coup d etat set up the ensuing forty years of dictatorship Douglas Wheeler tries to explain Pais attractiveness as a leader and later a cult figure by pointing to his character His personality combined attractive social qualities and strength of character A contemporary observer described him as half prince half condottiere and a member of his short lived parliament in 1918 explained his public attractiveness by suggesting that he possessed spiritual mimetism an ability to mimic faithfully several current traits and images His versatility was extraordinary but what distinguished him in contemporary Portuguese politics was his readiness to discuss difficult issues openly and to admit in public that he was capable of making mistakes 10 The writer Fernando Pessoa admiringly referred to Pais as the President King Presidente Rei a description that stuck in later years because it adequately symbolized his regime 1 Particularly among the most conservative Catholic groups Pais entered the Portuguese imagination as a mix of a savior and a martyr and caused the emergence of a popular cult similar to the one existing around the figure of Jose Tomas de Sousa Martins which endures until today It is common to see fresh flowers and religious symbols being laid at his tomb This is mainly due to his reversal of some early republican anti clerical laws But it seems somewhat ironic that his name lives on most vividly in these circles since Pais was not a particularly religious man himself nbsp Street sign for Avenida de Sidonio Pais in Macau MacaoPais must carry some of the responsibility for subsequent dictatorships because of his autocratic style of government and the removal of any remaining checks on the regime The ineffectuality of his regime failed to bring the order it had promised and only contributed to the chaos of the First Republic and the undermining of its legitimacy The Estado Novo regime that controlled Portugal during much of the 20th century exploited the legacy and associations of Sidonism to its advantage For instance when the Portuguese National Pantheon was inaugurated in 1966 the authorities had Pais s body transferred to it from the Room of the Chapter of the Jeronimos Monastery where it had been interred previously Family and descendants editPais married Maria dos Prazeres Martins Bessa Amarante Sao Goncalo 1868 1869 Porto Lisbon 1945 in 1895 The couple had five children four sons and one daughter Out of wedlock he also had one daughter by one Ema Manso Preto He is the great grandfather in the male line of pianist and composer Bernardo Sassetti 1970 2012 citation needed Museum plans editIn 2002 Caminha s Camara Municipal purchased the ruin of Pais birthplace for 175 000 Euros The architect Nuno Brandao Costa was asked in 2009 to turn the house into a museum The basement should house a room dedicated to Pais s presidency with a second hall devoted to his life on the ground floor The first floor will be turned into a documentation center The costs of the conversion are estimated to be one million Euros 11 There appears to have been made little to no progress after the mid 2010s however Honours edit nbsp Sash and Grand Cross of the Three Orders as President of the Republic and Grand Master of the Portuguese Honorific Orders 1917 1918 nbsp Knight of the Order of Christ Portugal 27 January 1919 12 nbsp Knight of the Order of Aviz Portugal 5 October 1933 12 nbsp Officer of the Order of Aviz Portugal 4 December 1943 12 Notes editReferences edit a b Fernando Pessoa 1918 A memoria do Presidente Rei Sidonio Pais Quoted in Darlene Joy Sadler 1998 An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship Gainesville etc University of Florida Press p 45 a b c d e Sidonio Pais Porto Editora Infopedia Retrieved 14 December 2012 Antonio Malheiro da Silva 2006 Sidonio e Sidonismo Vol 1 historia de uma vida Coimbra Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra This was legitimized by Decree No 3701 on the same day Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses 1998 Sidonio Pais the Portuguese New Republic and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe European History Quarterly Vol 28 1 111 113 Fernando Pessoa A Memoria do Presidente Rei Sidonio Pais 27 2 1920 in Maria Isabel Rocheta and Maria Paula Mourao eds 1979 Da Republica 1910 1935 Introducao e organizacao de Joel Serrao Lisboa Atica Death of Sidonio Pais Retrieved 29 December 2015 Alentejo assassins 2013 Archived from the original on 18 November 2018 Retrieved 29 December 2015 Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses 1998 Sidonio Pais the Portuguese New Republic and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe European History Quarterly Vol 28 1 pp 109 130 Wheeler Douglas L 1978 Republican Portugal A Political History 1910 1926 Madison University of Wisconsin Press p 142 Web site for the Pais Museum project Archived from the original on 30 December 2016 Retrieved 29 December 2016 a b c CIDADAOS NACIONAIS AGRACIADOS COM ORDENS PORTUGUESAS Pagina Oficial das Ordens Honorificas Portuguesas ordens presidencia pt in Portuguese Retrieved 7 August 2017 Bibliography editAnon Fotobiografias do Seculo XX Photobiography of Sidonio Pais Circulo de Leitores Carles i Pomar Angels 2011 Juntes Militars versus Juntes de Defensa Militarisme a Espanya i Portugal al final de la Gran Guerra Ph D Thesis Pompeu Fabra University Diego Palacios Cerezales 2004 Verdes e Vermelhos Portugal e a Guerra no Ano de Sidonio Pais Analise Social 171 pp 469 472 Malheiro da Silva Antonio 2006 Sidonio e Sidonismo Vol 1 historia de uma vida Coimbra Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra Malheiro da Silva Antonio 2006 Sidonio e Sidonismo Vol 2 historia de um caso politico Coimbra Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra Malheiro da Silva Antonio 2009 Sidonio Pais na historia Repositorio Cientfico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal Ribeiro de Meneses Filipe 1998 Sidonio Pais the Portuguese New Republic and the Challenge to Liberalism in Southern Europe European History Quarterly Vol 28 1 pp 109 130 Rodriguez Gaytan de Ayala Ana 2006 Orden en Portugal la Republica Nova de Sidonio Pais 1917 1919 Caceres Junta de Extremadura Consejeria de Cultura Samara Alice 2006 Sidonio Pais Fotobiografia Lisboa Museu da Presidencia da Republica Wheeler Douglas L 1978 Republican Portugal A Political History 1910 1926 Madison University of Wisconsin Press See particularly pp 139 154 External links editSidonio Pais page in the English version of the site of the Portuguese Presidency of the Republic Sidonio Pais at the Fundacao Mario Soares page Sidonio Pais at the Portugal Dicionario Historico Portugal Historical Dictionary Sidonio Pais in the Vidas Lusofonas Lusophone Lives Moving images of Sidonio Pais on the day of his inauguration as President of the Republic YouTube Political officesPreceded byBernardino Machado President of Portugal1917 1918 Succeeded byJoao do Canto e CastroPreceded byJose Norton de Matos Prime Minister of Portugal1917 1918 Succeeded byJoao do Canto e Castro Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sidonio Pais amp oldid 1207137315, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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