António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (; ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman who served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He was responsible for the "Estado Novo" ("New State"), the corporatist authoritarian government that ruled Portugal until 1974.
António de Oliveira Salazar
The radicalism of the regime naturally drew opposition. Emídio Santana, founder of the "Sindicato Nacional dos Metalúrgicos" ("Metallurgists National Union") and an anarcho-syndicalist who was involved in clandestine activities against the dictatorship, attempted to assassinate Salazar on 4 July 1937. Salazar was on his way to Mass at a private chapel in a friend's house on Barbosa du Bocage Avenue in Lisbon. As he stepped out of his Buick limousine, a bomb hidden in an iron case exploded only away. The blast left Salazar untouched, but his chauffeur was rendered deaf. A year later, the bishops of the country argued in a collective letter that it was an "act of God" that had preserved Salazar's life. The official car was replaced by an armoured Chrysler Imperial. Sought by the "PIDE", Emídio Santana fled to Britain, where he was arrested by British police and returned to Portugal. He was then sentenced to 16 years in prison.