Portugal: Salazar's Election

Portugal in election week was like a nation under siege—and, in a sense, it was. The air force was alerted. Naval patrol boats growled offshore, and ground troops earmarked for the revolt-torn African colony of Angola were diverted to home duty instead. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic-whipped northwestern frontier, police mounted a vast network of roadblocks known as "Operation Stop," ostensibly to crack down on auto thieves. Actual reason for the emergency: Strongman António de Oliveira Salazar's obsessive fear that maverick Henrique Galvâo, who stole the Santa Maria and world headlines in an eleven-day protest against the regime last...