José Mendes Cabeçadas

Who was José Mendes Cabeçadas?

José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior, OTE, ComA, commonly known as Mendes Cabeçadas, was a Portuguese Navy officer, free mason and republican, having a major role in the preparation of the revolutionary movements that created and ended the Portuguese First Republic: the 5 October revolution in 1910 and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926. In the outcome he became the 69th Minister of Finance for one day only on May 30, 1926, then becoming interim Minister for Foreign Affairs for two days between May 30 and June 1, after what he again became the 70th Minister for Finance on the same day. He served as the ninth President of the Republic and Prime Minister for a brief period of time.

Mendes Cabeçadas was one of those responsible for the revolt on board the ship Adamastor, during the republican revolution of 1910. However he soon became disappointed with the regime he had helped to create. In 1926 he led the revolution against the First Republic in Lisbon after Gomes da Costa had started it in Braga. Prime Minister António Maria da Silva resigned and just days after President Bernardino Machado named him Prime Minister.