Manuel Teixeira Gomes served as president of Portugal between 5 October 1923 and 11 December 1925. He was born in Portimão, never finished his study of medicine at the University of Coimbra, but became famous as one of the best Portuguese writers of his time. His best known novel is "Maria Adelaide". In the 1923 presidential elections he defeated former President Bernardino Machado. He resigned two years later due to a strong campaign of defamation staerted by Prime Minister António Maria da Silva.
He lived for the rest of his life in Algeria, where, in self imposed exile, he opposed the fascist regime of the New State without ever returning again to Portugal.