| Francisco Craveiro Lopes | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | CvTE ComC GCA GCB |
| Office: | President of Portugal |
| Term Start: | 9 August 1951 |
| Term End: | 9 August 1958 |
| Primeminister: | António de Oliveira Salazar |
| Predecessor: | Óscar Carmona |
| Successor: | Américo Tomás |
| Office2: | Member of the National Assembly |
| Term Start2: | 26 November 1945 |
| Term End2: | 18 June 1951 |
| Constituency2: | Coimbra |
| Office1: | Governor of Portuguese India |
| Term Label1: | Acting |
| Term Start1: | September 1936 |
| Term End1: | July 1938 |
| President1: | Óscar Carmona |
| Predecessor1: | João Carlos Craveiro Lopes |
| Successor1: | José Ricardo Pereira Cabral |
| Birth Name: | Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes |
| Birth Date: | 12 April 1894 |
| Birth Place: | Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Death Place: | Lisbon, Portuguese Republic |
| Party: | National Union |
| Spouse: | Berta da Costa Ribeiro Arthur |
| Children: | 4 |
| Profession: | Air force officer |
| Alma Mater: | Lisbon Polytechnic School |
| Allegiance: |  Portugal |
| Serviceyears: | 1911–1964 |
| Rank: | Marshal of the air force |
| Awards: | Order of Christ Order of Aviz Order of the Tower and Sword Order of the Bath Royal Victorian Chain |
| Battles: | First World War |
| Signature: | AssinaturaCraveiroLopes.svg |
Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes (pronounced as /pt/; 12 April 1894 – 2 September 1964) was a Portuguese Air Force officer and politician who served as the 12th president of Portugal from 1951 to 1958.
Born in Lisbon, he was a son of João Carlos Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese army general and 122nd Governor-General of Portuguese India (1929–1936) and his wife Júlia Clotilde Cristiano Salinas.
He concluded his Colégio Militar studies by 1911, having then entered the Escola Politécnica de Lisboa, in the same year he joined a cavalry regiment. He succeeded his father as the 123rd General Governor of Portuguese India (1936–1938).[1]
Lopez served as the commander of the Portuguese volunteer forces during the Spanish Civil War. [2]
Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar chose Craveiro Lopes as the regime's presidential candidate in 1951 to succeed the late Óscar Carmona. Initially, he was to run in what would have been only the second contested election of the Estado Novo, when naval officer Manuel Quintão Meireles filed to run against him. However, Quintão Meireles withdrew before election day, and Craveiro Lopes was elected unopposed.
Under the Constitution, the president was vested with near-dictatorial powers. In practice, Carmona had mostly turned over the government to Salazar. However, Craveiro Lopes was not willing to give Salazar the free hand that Carmona had given him. Despite this, he did not go as far as to dismiss Salazar; for all intents and purposes, the president's power to sack the prime minister was the only check on Salazar's power.
Nevertheless, Salazar picked the seemingly more pliant naval minister, Américo Tomás, as the regime's candidate in 1958. The Democratic Opposition then invited Craveiro Lopes to be their candidate, but he knew he stood no chance of winning and refused. The regime, however, as compensation promoted him to Marshal. He was involved in the failed military attempt to overthrow Salazar in 1961, led by the Defence Minister Júlio Botelho Moniz.
He died in Lisbon on 2 September 1964.
Craveeiro received the following national honours:[3]
Craveeiro received the following foreign honours:[4]
Dominican RepublicGrand Cross of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella (20 November 1957)
Grand Cross of the National Order of Legion of Honour (8 August 1953)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (11 August 1953)
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Cedar (17 April 1956)
Grand Cross of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (9 March 1954)
United KingdomHonorary Knight Grand Cross (Military Division) of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (20 April 1956)
He married Berta Ribeiro Artur (Lisbon, Pena, 15 October 1899 – Lisbon, Santa Maria de Belém, 5 July 1958), natural daughter of Engineer Sezinando Ribeiro Artur (Lisbon, 1875 – Lourenço Marques, 1918) by Maria Clara Pereira, by whom he had four children.
Brazil
France
Lebanon
Spain