Mário Soares (born 1924) was the first socialist president of Portugal and a long-time opponent of the right-wing Salazar regime.

Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares was born in Lisbon on December 7, 1924. As a young boy he was greatly influenced by his father, a militant republican who spent considerable time in prison, in exile, or in hiding for his political activism. In the mid-1930s Soares' father started a private school, the Colégio Moderno, that reflected his deep-seated republican and liberal views. The young Soares subsequently lived and attended classes at this well-known private high school in Portugal. Later, Mário Soares attended the Classical University of Lisbon, where he became a student leader opposed to the right-wing authoritarian government of the day. In time he earned degrees in history, philosophy, and law, which, along with the influence of his father, prepared him...