Portuguese politician, diplomat, jurist, and professor. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Interim Prime Minister of Portugal. Born Diogo Pinto de Freitas do Amaral in Póvoa de Varzim, he completed his secondary studies at Pedro Nunes Lyceum and at the age of 18 he entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, where in 1963 he graduated in Law. When he was a finalist student of the degree, he chaired the Board of the RGA (General Meeting of Students) of the Academic Association of the Faculty of Law of Lisbon (AAFDL), between 1961 and 1962. He also collaborated in the magazine "Quadrante" (1958-1962), published by the AAFDL. Disciple of Marcelo Caetano, he would dedicate himself to an academic career at the same Faculty, specializing in Administrative Law - in 1964 he completed the Complementary Course in Political-Economic Sciences. In 1967 he obtained a doctorate in Legal-Political Sciences, with the thesis "The execution of sentences of the administrative courts". Defender of a European-based Christian Democracy for Portugal, he was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Center Party (CDS), and its first leader, elected at the founding congress of the CDS, after the April 25, 1974 Revolution that ended the Estado Novo dictatorial regime. He chaired the National Political Commission until 1982, and again between 1988 and 1991. For the CDS, he was a deputy to the Constituent Assembly, elected in 1975. He would later be a deputy to the Assembly of the Republic, between 1976 and 1983, and again from 1991 to 1993. He was also a member of the Council of State from 1974 to 1975. In 1977 he began his collaboration with the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Portugal as a professor. In 1979, together with Francisco Sá Carneiro, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and Gonçalo Ribeiro Teles, leader of the People's Monarchist Party (PPM), he created the Democratic Alliance coalition (AD). José Medeiros Ferreira, António Barreto and Francisco Sousa Tavares, from the Movimento dos Reformadores (Reformists' Movement), dissidents from the Socialist Party (PS), would join this formation in defense of a governing solution with "authority and stability". The AD would win by majority rule in the legislative elections of 1979 - the first absolute majority of Portuguese Democracy - as well as the legislative elections of 1980. Following this result, he was part of the Sixth Constitutional Government, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, from January 3, 1980 to January 9, 1981. After the tragedy of Camarate on December 4, 1980, which killed Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro, whose death fell to him to announce on television, he assumed functions as interim Prime Minister of the same Government until January 9, 1981. Under the leadership of Francisco Pinto Balsemão, who succeeded Sá Carneiro as Prime Minister, months later he joined the Eighth Constitutional Government, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, from September 4, 1981 to June 9, 1983. The 1982 constitutional revision, achieved through a consensus with the PS of Mário Soares - which resulted in an internal division of the socialists, between Soares' faction and another, closer to General Ramalho Eanes, led by Salgado Zenha - was a of the greatest political achievements of the government of the Democratic Alliance, at that time already led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão. The revision sought to reduce the ideological burden of the Constitution, make the economic system more flexible and redefine the structures for the exercise of political power, having extinguished the Council of the Revolution and created a new system of inspection of constitutionality, under the competence of a Constitutional Court, then created. He became a full professor in 1984 and also served five terms as president of the Scientific Council of the Lisbon Faculty of Law. Candidate for President of the Republic in the 1986 elections, he obtained the support of the PSD and the CDS, reaching 48.8% of the votes in the second round, close, but insufficient for the victory, which fell to Mário Soares. In 1992 he left the CDS, announcing his withdrawal from active politics. However, he did not relinquish his position as deputy until November 1993. He was until today the only Portuguese President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, between 1995 and 1996. In 1998, after having been a founder of the Faculty of Law of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (New University of Lisbon), he abandoned the "Clássica" (the older Faculty of Law), dedicating himself exclusively to teaching in the "Nova" (the new Faculty of Law), where he also chaired the Installation Commission, until 1999. On May 22, 2007, he taught his last class at this Faculty, with the theme "Changes in Administrative Law in the last 50 years". Although he declared himself independent, his choice as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 17th Government, formed by the Socialist Party of José Sócrates, caused controversy in March 2005. Many considered his past militancy incompatible with his status as a minister in a socialist government. He supported the PSD in the parliamentary election of 2002, however, disappointed with the government performance, and critical of its support for the US invasion of Iraq he then supported the Socialist Party. He remained in the position from March 12, 2005 to July 1, 2006, leaving the government for health reasons. From 2011 onwards, at the Faculty of Law of the Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, he taught Public Economic Law, also coordinating the Portuguese Center for Lusophone Studies. Freitas do Amaral is considered one of the main doctrinaires of Administrative Law in Portugal. He was a sporadic television commentator, namely on SIC Notícias. He wrote two biographies: one of King Afonso I and the other of King Afonso III of Portugal, both his ancestors, and a play about Viriathus. He died on October 3, 2019, at CUF Hospital, Cascais, at the age of 78. "Freitas do Amaral was one of the founders of our democratic system," Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said in a statement announcing his death, adding that his countrymen should "bow in homage" to him. "The Washington Post" referred to him as someone "who played a leading role in cementing the country's democracy." "The New York Times" referred that "Freitas do Amaral's party helped balance the far-left fervor, led by the Portuguese Communist Party, that surged after the dictatorship's ouster. He played a central role in helping to steer Portugal away from its radical course in the post-revolution years, which coincided with the Cold War and triggered fears in Western Europe and the United States that the country, a member of NATO, might align with Moscow." The Portuguese government declared national mourning, on the day the funeral took place, October 5, 2019. His wake took place in the Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon, and he was interred in Guia Cemetery, Cascais.