Pereira, Pedro Teotónio

(1902-1972)

   Teotónio Pereira was one of the most important political figures in the higher ranks of the Estado Novo, present at the creation of the Estado Novo and, for more than a decade, a potential successor of Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar. Born in Lisbon and trained as a mathematician and insurance actuary, Pereira was one of the few Estado Novo high officials to have studied abroad (in Switzerland). At age 31, he was named the first undersecretary of state for corporations and played an important role in the construction of corporativism. He was minister of commerce and industry (1936-37) and, in 1938, was sent to represent Portugal in Generalíssmio Francisco Franco's Spain, the first of a number of top diplomatic posts he served in for the Estado Novo. At various times until he served as minister of the presidency (1958-61), succeeding his rival Marcello Caetano in the post, Teo-tónio Pereira was Portugal's ambassador to Great Britain, Brazil, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United States.

   One of the most influential personalities of the regime, Teotónio Pereira remained loyal to the aging Salazar throughout the middle and late periods of the Estado Novo (1944-58; 1958-68) and was on the short list of potential successors to Salazar in September 1968. Ill health, age, and the candidacy of Caetano, however, conspired against him. He died in Lisbon in November 1972.