The US ambassador who "helped save Portuguese democracy"?

The American who bet on Portuguese democracyWhen Frank Carlucci landed in Lisbon in January 1975, Washington had all but given up on Portugal. Secretary of State Kissinger had summarily removed the previous ambassador, Stuart Nash Scott, convinced the country was sliding irretrievably left - the fear was that Portugal might become the first NATO country to go communist.Kissinger's pessimism produced one of the era's great exchanges: he told Mário Soares he would be Portugal's Kerensky; Soares protested that he didn't want to be Kerensky, and Kissinger retorted that Kerensky hadn't wanted to be either.Carlucci arrived with a mission and made an immediate impression - he spoke Portuguese at his very first press conference, unheard of for an American diplomat at the time, a skill picked up during an earlier posting in Brazil. The far left painted him as the CIA's man in Lisbon - the communists even published a two-inch-thick book titled "Dossier Carlucci: CIA", and after a failed coup attempt in March 1975, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho went on television, accused the American ambassador of being behind it, and declared he had no intention of protecting him.Carlucci's real battle, though, was with his own boss.Through the Verão Quente of 1975, he and Soares met frequently in a tiny laundry room with a view to exchange ideas and keep the revolution from ushering in a new dictatorship - a room preserved today as "Casa Carlucci."He argued Soares was the only viable bet, prompting Kissinger to grumble "Who sold me Carlucci as a tough guy?"Crucially, Carlucci managed to sidestep Kissinger and take his case directly to President Ford, thanks to his old Princeton classmate and wrestling teammate Donald Rumsfeld, then White House Chief of Staff. The bet paid off.By August 1975 Carlucci had persuaded Ford and Kissinger to back Portugal's democratic leadership; the communist coup attempt was defeated on 25 November 1975, and by July 1976 Soares headed Portugal's first constitutional government.Carlucci went on to serve as CIA Deputy Director, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of Defense under Reagan - but Portugal never forgot the laundry-room diplomat.The American international school in Sintra bears his name, and his daughter Kristin recently published a book about his legacy, "Get Me Carlucci: A Daughter Recounts Her Father's Legacy of Service" - a fitting title for the man Lisbon's walls once told to go home.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-good-morning-portugal-podcast-with-carl-munson--2903992/support.Get help moving to and living in Portugal