Mário Soares
Who was Mário Soares?
Portuguese lawyer and politician who served as President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996 and was a key figure in the country's transition to democracy.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Mário Soares (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares was born on December 7, 1924, in Lisbon, Portugal, and became a key political figure in modern Portuguese history. He studied law and history at the University of Lisbon and developed an early dedication to democracy, opposing the authoritarian Estado Novo regime led by António de Oliveira Salazar. His legal career was closely connected to political activism, often defending political prisoners, which angered the Salazarist authorities. He was arrested several times and eventually went into exile in 1970, mainly living in France while continuing his political efforts.
Soares was a founding member and the first secretary-general of the Portuguese Socialist Party, created in Bad Münstereifel, West Germany, in 1973. After the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, which ended nearly fifty years of authoritarian rule in Portugal, he returned from exile and helped the country transition to a democratic system. He served as Foreign Minister immediately after the revolution, handling Portugal's decolonization and its relations with newly independent former colonies like Angola and Mozambique.
He was Prime Minister of Portugal twice, first from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1985. His second term was particularly important for leading Portugal's entry into the European Economic Community, which was officially completed in 1986. That year, Soares was elected President of Portugal, becoming the first civilian to hold the office in sixty years. He served two five-year terms from 1986 to 1996, a time when Portugal strengthened its democratic institutions and deepened its ties with Europe.
Soares was also a prolific writer, producing many books on Portuguese history, politics, and democracy. He married Maria Barroso, an actress and civic activist, and they remained public figures in Portugal for many years. After his presidency, Soares stayed active in public debates, often criticizing perceived threats to democratic values. He received many international honors recognizing his contributions to democracy and diplomacy, including awards from Spain, Italy, Germany, Finland, and the Vatican. He died in Lisbon on January 7, 2017, at the age of 92.
Before Fame
Mário Soares grew up in Lisbon during the Estado Novo dictatorship, heavily influencing his lifelong fight against authoritarianism. His father, João Lopes Soares, was a politician and educator who worked under the First Portuguese Republic. Growing up in this environment, Mário learned about democratic ideals that conflicted with the ruling regime. While studying at the University of Lisbon, he got involved in anti-fascist student movements and was first arrested in 1949 for his political activities.
In the following decades, Soares became known as a lawyer willing to defend political dissidents and Communist Party members, even at great personal risk. The political police, the PIDE, arrested him multiple times, and at one point, he was deported to São Tomé. His continued opposition to the Salazar and later Caetano regimes, along with his efforts to build an organized socialist alternative to both the dictatorship and the Communist Party, made him a leading voice of the democratic opposition long before the 1974 revolution achieved those goals.
Key Achievements
- Served as President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996, the first civilian to hold the office in sixty years
- Founded the Portuguese Socialist Party in 1973 and served as its first secretary-general until 1986
- Oversaw Portugal's accession to the European Economic Community as Prime Minister, with membership taking effect in 1986
- Played a central role in negotiating Portugal's decolonization following the 1974 Carnation Revolution as Foreign Minister
- Widely regarded as the father of Portuguese democracy for his decades of opposition to the Estado Novo dictatorship and his leadership during the democratic transition
Did You Know?
- 01.Soares was deported by the Salazarist regime to the island of São Tomé in 1968 as a form of internal exile, a punishment reserved for particularly troublesome political opponents.
- 02.He founded the Portuguese Socialist Party not in Portugal but in West Germany in 1973, as the continued dictatorship made such organization impossible at home.
- 03.During his years of exile in France, Soares taught at the University of Paris and maintained close ties with the French Socialist Party under François Mitterrand.
- 04.His election as President in 1986 made him the first civilian president of Portugal since Bernardino Machado was deposed in a military coup in 1926.
- 05.Soares received an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in 1989, reflecting the strong intellectual and political connections he maintained with France throughout his career.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic | 1977 | — |
| honorary doctor of the University of Rennes 2 | 1977 | — |
| Collar of the Order of Charles III | 1987 | — |
| honorary doctorate of the University of Salamanca | 1987 | — |
| Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau | 1988 | — |
| Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic | 1989 | — |
| honorary doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University | 1989 | — |
| Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland | 1990 | — |
| Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX | 1990 | — |
| Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany | 1991 | — |
| Grand Collar of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword | 1991 | — |
| honorary doctorate of the University of Santiago de Compostela | 1992 | — |
| Knight of the Order of the Elephant | 1992 | — |
| Gold medal of Galicia | 1993 | — |
| Medal of Extremadura | 1993 | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland | 1993 | — |
| Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Falcon | 1993 | — |
| Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | 1994 | — |
| National Order of Merit | 1994 | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta | 1994 | — |
| Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation | 1995 | — |
| honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense | 1995 | — |
| Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George | 1996 | — |
| International Simón Bolívar Prize | 1998 | — |
| North–South Prize | 2000 | — |
| honorary doctorate of the Bordeaux Montaigne University | 2010 | — |
| Grand Collar of the Order of the Southern Cross | — | — |
| Royal Order of the Seraphim | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit | — | — |
| Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown | — | — |
| Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Ivorian Order of Merit | — | — |
| Order of Stara Planina | — | — |
| Order of Amilcar Cabral | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Order of Merit | — | — |
| Order of Merit of Senegal | — | — |
| Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria | — | — |
| honorary doctorate of the University of Porto | — | — |
| honorary doctorate from Brown University | — | — |
| honorary doctorate from Princeton University | — | — |
| honorary doctorate of the University of Coimbra | — | — |
| honorary doctor of the Université libre de Bruxelles | — | — |
| Honorary doctor of the University of Oxford | — | — |
| Honorary doctor of the University of Bologna | — | — |
| Honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva | — | — |
| Honorary doctor of the Bilkent University | — | — |
| honorary doctorate of the University of La Coruña | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ | — | — |
| Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders | — | — |
| Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty | — | — |
| Prémio Autores | — | — |