About António Ramalho Eanes
António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes (born 25 January 1935) is a Portuguese general and politician who was the president of Portugal from 1976 to 1986. == Background == Born at Alcains, Castelo Branco, he is the son of Manuel dos Santos Eanes, a general contractor, and Maria do Rosário Ramalho. == Political career == After a long military career in the Portuguese Colonial Wars, Eanes was stationed in Portuguese Angola when the 25 April revolution of 1974 took place. He joined the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA or Armed Forces Movement) and after returning to Portugal was made president of RTP (Portuguese public television). In January–February 1975, he emerged as a leader in the "operationals" faction within the Portuguese military that represented the professional interests of the officer corps. Around the same time, he was cultivated by the new US embassy team of Frank Carlucci, appointed in January 1975 by the United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the advice of Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency General Vernon A. Walters with the mission of "getting the communists out of the government and keeping them out"; he joined NATO training programmes following selection by Colonel Robert Schuler and Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexander Haig, and earned the description of "a boy scout for democracy" from Carlucci's deputy Herbert S. Okun. Eanes then ordered the military counter-coup of 25 November 1975 against the pro-communist radical faction of the MFA, ending that year's "hot summer" (Verão quente). In June 1976 he was elected President of Portugal with the backing of all political parties except the Communists, and simultaneously held the positions of the commander-in-chief of the Portuguese Armed Forces, chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, and head of the Council of the Revolution. He initially entrusted the Socialist Party with forming a minority government. In 1977, he established an independent commission to examine Portugal's economy, and after dismissing the Socialist PM Mário Soares in August 1978 he appointed three successive technocratic cabinets of Alfredo Nobre da Costa, Carlos Mota Pinto and Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, none of which lasted more than a year. They had two sons, Manuel António (b. 5 May 1972) and Miguel (b. 20 October 1977).
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