Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa

Who was Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa?

Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, GOTE, GCA, commonly known as Manuel Gomes da Costa, or just Gomes da Costa, son of Carlos Dias da Costa and wife Madalena de Oliveira and older brother of Lucrécia and Amália, was a Portuguese army officer and politician, the tenth President of the Portuguese Republic and the second of the Ditadura Nacional.

He began his military career by studying at the Colégio Militar at age 10. On May 15, 1885 in Penamacor he married Henriqueta Júlia de Mira Godinho, by whom he had three children. As a soldier he stood out in pacification campaigns in the African and Indian colonies, and also during the First World War. As a politician he was the person chosen by the right-wing revolutionaries to lead the 28 May 1926 coup d'état in Braga.

After the success of the revolution he did not assume power at first, entrusting the posts of President of the Republic and President of the Council of Ministers to José Mendes Cabeçadas, the leader of the revolution in Lisbon. Soon the coup leaders disliked Mendes Cabeçadas' attitude and he was replaced by Gomes da Costa in both posts in a meeting in Sacavém on June 17, 1926. However, his government lasted nearly as little as Cabeçadas' because on July 9 of the same year a new revolution led by Óscar Carmona overthrew Gomes da Costa, incapable of governing.