Manuel Gomes da Costa
Manuel Gomes da Costa | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 1918 | |
| President of Portugal | |
| In office 17 June 1926 – 9 July 1926 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | José Mendes Cabeçadas |
| Succeeded by | Óscar Carmona |
| Prime Minister of Portugal | |
| In office 17 June 1926 – 9 July 1926 | |
| President | Himself |
| Preceded by | José Mendes Cabeçadas |
| Succeeded by | Óscar Carmona |
| Ministerial portfolios | |
| 1926 | Interior (acting) |
| 1926 | Interior |
| 1926 | War |
| 1926 | Colonies (acting) |
| 1926 | Agriculture (designate) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa 14 January 1863 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Died | 17 December 1929 (aged 66) Lisbon, Portugal |
| Party | Independent |
| Spouse | Henriqueta Mira Godinho |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Military officer (General, posthumously Marshal) |
| Signature | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Portuguese Second Republic |
Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa GOA, GOTE, GCA (14 January 1863 – 17 December 1929) was a Portuguese army officer and politician who served as president of Portugal in 1926. He was the second president of the Ditadura Nacional.
Gomes da Costa had a distinguished military career in the country's colonies, from 1893 to 1915, in India, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé, having served under the command of Mouzinho de Albuquerque. After World War I, in which he rose to greater prominence in the command of the 1st Division of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, he became actively engaged in politics, in staunch opposition to the dominant Democratic Party.
In 1926, he was involved in the military and political movement that resulted in the 28 May 1926 coup d'état that inaugurated a new conservative, authoritarian regime. Following the military coup, Gomes da Costa deposed moderate José Mendes Cabeçadas, who had received executive and presidential power from the removed Prime Minister António Maria da Silva and President Bernardino Machado, briefly holding the headship of government and of state in the summer of that year, until he was himself removed by another coup, to be replaced by Óscar Carmona.