Fernando Rosas

Fernando José Mendes Rosas is a Portuguese historian and politician.

Early life and education

Rosas was born on April 18, 1946. He studied at Pedro Nunes high school, and in 1961, he joined the school's Portuguese Communist Party organization, a party for which he was later a militant.

He entered University of Lisbon's Faculty of Law where he remained an active militant. He was arrested in the repressive wave of January, 1965, while he was directing the student association of his Faculty. The Estado Novo arrested dozens of activists from the main board of student resistance. He was tried and convicted in 1965. He served one year and three months at a correctional facility. As he left this facility he dedicated himself to supporting activities for arrested politicians.

The events of May 1968, and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, in August of the same year, led him to opt for the abandonment of the Communist Party. He participated in Portugal's first public protest against the Vietnam War, supported by sectors that were linked to the Students' Democratic Left-Wing, organization which he helped found in late 1968. It was as a politician responsible for this party that he organized the 1969 protests in Lisbon. He also participated in the second protest (this time centred on Coimbra).

In August 1971, he was arrested for the second time and taken to the headquarters of the PIDE political police. He was submitted to sleep torture for several days and then the regime's courts convicted him to 14 months at a correctional facility.

Upon his release, he returned to anti-fascist activism. In March 1973, he actively supported the campaign for the accusation of the murder of African Nationalist Politician Amílcar Cabral. After a renewed attempt by the PIDE to imprison him, he escaped and went "underground" until the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974.

Up to 1979 he was editor of the "Luta Popular" newspaper ("People's struggle" in English). He represented this organization both times Ramalho Eanes ran for the Presidency.

In 1981, Fernando Rosas returned to University and began dedicating himself to journalism as a profession. He coordinated the history page of Diário de Notícias and its cultural supplement. His collaboration with DN continued until 1992, a time when he integrated the fortnightly column of the pages of Público, another newspaper.

In 1986 he finished a Master's Degree in Contemporary History (19th and 20th century). He was invited to be assistant professor by the Faculty for Human and Social Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 1990 he got his Ph.D. and is today the president of the Instituto de História Contemporânea (Portugal's contemporary history institute), historical consultant for the Mário Soares Foundation and the editor of História magazine.

In 1996, he belonged to the Political Committee for the presidential candidature of Portugal's then (2004) President Jorge Sampaio.

In 1999, he helped found the Left Bloc political party, whose Permanent Commission he leads.

In 2001 he ran for President of the Republic, supported by the Bloco de Esquerda. He got 2,9% of the vote.

In 2006 he won the title "comendador da Grã-Cruz da Ordem da Liberdade".

Rosas was a deputy for Lisbon in the Assembly of the Republic from 1999 to 2002 and for Setubal since 2005.

Electoral results

2001 Portuguese presidential election

 Summary of the 14 January 2001 Portuguese presidential election results

Candidates		Supporting parties	First round
			Votes	%
	Jorge Sampaio	Socialist Party	2,401,015	55.55
	Ferreira do Amaral	Social Democratic Party, People's Party	1,498,948	34.68
	António Simões de Abreu	Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens"	223,196	5.16
	Fernando Rosas	Left Bloc	129,840	3.00
	António Garcia Pereira	Workers' Communist Party	68,900	1.59
Total valid			4,321,899	100.00
Blank ballots			82,391	1.85
Invalid ballots			45,510	1.02
Total (turnout 49.71%)			4,449,800
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Selected works

• As primeiras eleições legislativas sob o Estado Novo : as eleições de 16 de Dezembro de 1934, Cadernos O Jornal, 1985
• O Estado Novo nos Anos 30, Lisbon, Estampa, 1986
• O salazarismo e a Aliança Luso-Britânica : estudos sobre a política externa do Estado Novo nos anos 30 a 40, Lisbon, Fragmentos 1988
• Salazar e o Salazarismo (with JM Brandão de Brito), Publicacoes Dom Quixote, 1989, ISBN 978-972-20-0758-0
• Portugal Entre a Paz e a Guerra (1939/45), Lisbon, Estampa, 1990
• Portugal e o Estado Novo (1930/60), Vol. XII (ed), Nova História de Portugal, (gen. ed. A. H. de Oliveira Marques e Joel Serra), Lisbon, Editorial Presença, 1992
• O Estado Novo (1926/74), vol. VII, História Portugal (ed. J. Mattoso), 1994
• Dicionário de História do Estado Novo (with JM Brandão de Brito, ed.), Lisbon, Bertrand Editora, 1996
• Portugal e a Guerra Civil de Espanha (ed), Colibri, 1996, ISBN 978-972-772-016-3
• Armindo Monteiro e Oliveira Salazar : correspondência política, 1926-1955 (ed.), Lisbon, Estampa, 1996, ISBN 978-972-33-1182-2
• Salazarismo e Fomento Económico, Lisbon, Noticias, 2000
• Portugal Século XX : Pensamento e Acção Política, Lisbon, Noticias, 2004
• Lisboa Revolucionária, Lisbon, Tinta da China, 2007, ISBN 978-972-8955-45-8
• História da Primeira República Portuguesa (with Maria Fernanda Rollo), Lisbon, Tinta da China, 2009, ISBN 978-972-8955-98-4