"A Happy Revolution!" proclaimed the slogans hastily scrawled on the walls in Lisbon. So it seemed to many Portuguese, as optimism and euphoria marked the weeks immediately following the coup of April 25, 1974, when a group of young military officers ended nearly five decades of fascist dictatorship in Portugal. Jubilant citizens lionized the soldiers, plopping long-stemmed red carnations into the muzzles of their rifles. Political exiles returned home to tumultuous welcomes. Amnestied political prisoners walked out of their jails to the embraces of ecstatic relatives and friends. Freedom of the...
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