Thomas C.
Shortly after midnight on April 25, 1974, Lisbon's Radio Renascensa played "Grandola vila morena," an old ballad that was an anthem of the Portuguese Left. For a few listeners, most of them middle-ranking Army officers waiting in barracks up and down the country, the spirited lyrics had special meaning. The end of 48 years of dictatorship was at hand.
The ballad was the signal for rebel units to take up positions in six cities. As people were going to work in Lisbon that Thurs-...