premier of Portugal from September 1968, when he succeeded António de Oliveira Salazar, until the revolution of April 1974.
Trained as a lawyer, Caetano served with Salazar (then the finance minister) in 1929 and helped to draft the Constitution of 1933 and other legal documents of the New State. He was minister of the colonies (1944–49) and deputy prime minister (1955–59) before leaving political life to become rector of the University of Lisbon.
When Salazar suffered a stroke in 1968, Caetano was appointed prime minister. He admitted an opposition and rectified the Constitution but was unable to curb inflation or appease his critics. Foreign criticism of his African policy and dissatisfaction in the army led to the “Revolution of the Flowers,” which in 1974 overthrew the New State and drove Caetano into exile. He settled in Brazil and served as head of the Institute of Comparative Law, Gama Filho University, Rio de Janeiro, until his death.
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