Bernardino Machado

His Excellency Bernardino Machado GCTE GCL
3rd and 8th President of Portugal
In office 11 December 1925 – 31 May 1926
Prime Minister	Domingos Pereira António Maria da Silva
Preceded by	Manuel Teixeira Gomes
Succeeded by	José Mendes Cabeçadas
In office 5 October 1915 – 12 December 1917
Prime Minister	José de Castro Afonso Costa António José de Almeida José Norton de Matos Revolutionary Junta
Preceded by	Teófilo Braga
Succeeded by	Sidónio Pais
Prime Minister of Portugal
In office 2 March 1921 – 24 May 1921
President	António José de Almeida
Preceded by	Liberato Pinto
Succeeded by	Tomé de Barros Queirós
In office 9 February 1914 – 12 December 1914
President	Manuel de Arriaga
Preceded by	Afonso Costa
Succeeded by	Azevedo Coutinho
Personal details
Born	28 March 1851 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died	29 April 1944 (aged 93) Famalicão, Portugal
Political party	Portuguese Republican Party (later Democratic Party)
Spouse(s)	Elisa Dantas Pereira
Children	8 daughters and 8 sons
Alma mater	University of Coimbra
Occupation	Diplomat, professor, politician
Profession	Mathematician

Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães, GCTE, GCL (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɨɾnaɾˈdinu mɐˈʃadu]; 28 March 1851 – 29 April 1944), was a Portuguese political figure, the third and eighth President of Portugal (1915–17, 1925–26).

Early life

He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of António Luís Machado Guimarães (1820–1882), 1st Baron of Joane and a Nobleman of the Royal Household, a rich merchant raised to the Nobility, and his second wife Praxedes de Sousa Guimarães. He came to Portugal in 1860, enrolled at Coimbra University in 1866, studied Mathematics for three years, and graduated in Philosophy in 1873. In 1872, he chose to obtain Portuguese nationality. Machado continued his studies, obtained a doctorate in Philosophy in 1876 and graduation in General Agriculture and Rural Economy in 1883. He lectured at that institution since 1877.

In Porto in January 1882 he married Elisa Dantas Gonçalves Pereira (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 15 December 1865 – 21 April 1942), by whom he had sixteen children. One of his sons in law was the writer Aquilino Ribeiro.

Political scene

Official portrait of President Bernardino Machado by Henrique Medina.

He then turned to a second interest; in 1882 was elected to the Portuguese parliament for Lamego, and in 1886 for Coimbra. In 1890 and 1894 was also elected Peer of the Realm by the Coimbra University. During this period he was briefly Minister for Public Works on the Hintze Ribeiro cabinet, in 1893 and created the first labour court in Portugal. Taking a special interest in public education during his political activity he was made part of the Superior Council of Public Education in 1892, and published several books on the subject.

Machado was also briefly President of the Directory of the Democratic Party in 1902, and after switching to the Republican Party, was this party's President of the Directory from 1906 to 1909. He was one of the few monarchists-turned-republican who switched still during the monarchy.

Once the Republic was proclaimed in 1910 he was made Minister for Foreign Affairs, and ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Presidential elections of 1911. Afterwards, he was appointed ambassador to Brazil, then made his political comeback in 1914 to lead one of many brief cabinets the country had in this period. Machado ran again for the Presidency in 1915 and was this time elected President of Portugal. In the course of his term, he received Germany's declaration of war (March, 1916), and visited the Portuguese forces placed in France in the battlefields.

In 1917 the government was deposed by a military coup headed by Sidónio Pais, and Machado went into exile.

Upon Machado's return in 1919 he was elected Senator. He served as Prime Minister from 10 February to 23 May 1921. Once again, in 1925, he achieved the presidential office after President Teixeira Gomes resigned, only to be overthrown a year later (1926) by Gomes da Costa (See: 28 May 1926 coup d'état and Ditadura Nacional). The country remained under a military, then a civilian, dictatorship until 1974.

For a second time he went into exile in France, where he continued to be very critical of the Portuguese regime. The German occupation of France in 1940 forced him to seek protection in Portugal, which the government granted him with the condition that he was to be confined to his personal retreat in the northern part of Portugal. It was there in Oporto that he died, aged 93, in 1944.

Personal life

He was father-in-law of the famous writer Aquilino Ribeiro.

He was great-grandfather of the psychologist and sexologist Júlio Machado Vaz.

Books

• Introdução à Pedagogia, 1902
• O Ensino, 1898
• O Ensino Primário e Secundário, 1899
• O Ensino Superior, 1900