Humberto Delgado

Humberto da Silva Delgado (Portuguese pronunciation: [ũˈbɛɾtu dɛɫˈɡadu]; 15 May 1906 – 13 February 1965) was a General of the Portuguese Air Force, diplomat and politician.

Delgado was born in Brogueira, Torres Novas.

He was the son of Joaquim Delgado and Maria do Ó Pereira and had three younger sisters, Deolinda, Aida and Lídia.

He began his military career by joining the Colégio Militar, in Lisbon, which he attended from 1916 to 1922.

He participated in the 28 May 1926 revolution that overthrew the First Republic and created the Ditadura Nacional, which would pave the way to the Estado Novo. He would be a loyal supporter of the regime, becoming the Director of the Secretariado Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil (National Secretariat of Civil Aeronautics), General-Commander of the Legião Portuguesa, Deputy National Commissar of the Mocidade Portuguesa and Procurator to the Corporative Chamber.

He would be the youngest general in Portuguese history.

Marcelo Caetano, who was his friend during this time, later would describe Delgado as an "exalted person" and a man who "wore his heart on his sleeve".

He published an anti-democratic book, Da Pulhice do 'Homo Sapiens' in 1933, which attacked both the "crooks monarchy" and the "bandits republic" in his subtitle.

Although opposition candidates had nominally been allowed to run since the 1940s, the electoral system was so heavily rigged in favor of Salazar's National Union that its candidates could not possibly be defeated.

Delgado wrote in praise of Adolf Hitler, who he considered as a genius and an example of human possibilities in the fields of politics, diplomacy, social organization and military, in 1941.

However, with time his sympathies leaned towards the Allies.

He came to the Azores islands during World War II, by the occasion of the Portuguese-British Agreement.

The Transportes Aéreos Portugueses was founded on 14 March 1945 by Delgado, then Director of the Civil Aeronautics Secretariat, with the purchase of the first aircraft that year, two DC-3 Dakota.

On 19 September 1946, the first commercial line was opened, between Lisbon and Madrid, and on 31 December of that year, the Imperial Air Line was inaugurated, between Lisbon, Luanda (in the then colony of Angola) and Lourenço Marques, former designation of Maputo (in the then colony of Mozambique), with twelve stopovers and lasting 15 days (round trip), being the longest line in the world operated by twin-engine aircraft.

Under his supervision the first domestic line, between Lisbon and Porto, opened in 1947, the year Douglas C-54 Skymaster was purchased.

In 1948, TAP became a full member of IATA and flights open to Paris in France and Seville in Spain.

The flight to London in the United Kingdom began in 1949.

In 1952 he was appointed military attaché at the Portuguese Embassy in Washington and a member of the NATO Military Representatives Committee.

Becoming a Military Attaché and Aeronautic Attaché to the Portuguese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1952 pushed his ideology in a liberal democratic direction, and inspired him to run as a democratic opposition candidate for the Portuguese presidency in 1958.

According to the testimony of Marshal Costa Gomes, Humberto Delgado decided to run for president because he failed to be appointed director of the NATO Defense College.

Humberto Delgado missed the much-desired appointment due to animus between him and the British Admiral Sir Michael Maynard Denny, former Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet.

According to Costa Gomes' testimonial, Humberto Delgado could not resist making jokes at the expense of the Admiral including constantly pulling the hair the British Admiral had coming out of his ears.

The British Admiral detested these jokes from Delgado and vetoed his appointment.

Costa Gomes had warned Delgado several times that those jests would cost him his much-desired appointment.

Delgado replied that he knew it but he just could not help doing it.

Costa Gomes described Delgado as a very smart man but with "a screw loose".

Episodes like these earned Delgado the nickname of "General sem juizo" (The senseless general).

At the age of 47 he was promoted to general and in 1956 the US Government granted him the rank of officer of the Legion of Merit.

Incumbent president Craveiro Lopes had been coerced by Salazar into standing down after only one term, Delgado faced arch-conservative naval minister Américo Tomás, the regime's candidate, in the 1958 presidential election.

Delgado decided to launch his candidacy as an independent, taking the traditional opposition by surprise.

Among the supporters were figures such as the intellectual António Sérgio, the monarchists Vieira de Almeida and Almeida Braga and the Fascist Francisco Rolão Preto.

The Portuguese Communist Party reacted fiercely and did not spare Delgado labeling him as "Fascist" and "General Coca-Cola", in an allusion to the General's pro-Americanism.

Delgado campaigned vigorously, even though he seemingly faced impossible odds.

Interviewed on 10 May 1958, in the Chave d'Ouro café and asked what would be his attitude towards Salazar, Delgado replied with the immediately sensational: "Obviamente, demito-o!" ("Obviously, I'll sack him!").

He was well aware that the president's power to remove the prime minister from office was essentially the only check on Salazar's power.

His outspoken attitude earned him the nickname of "General sem Medo" ("Fearless General" or literally "General without fear").

After a rally held at Oporto drew a large crowd.

However, when he tried to return to Lisbon, the police blocked him and his family from attending a planned rally, then broke up the gathering.

Nevertheless, Delgado was ultimately credited with less than 25% of the votes, with 76.4% in favor of Tomás.

Salazar refused to allow opposition representatives to observe the ballot count.