Portuguese politician, diplomat and Air Force officer. He began his military career by joining the Military College, in Lisbon, which he attended from 1916 to 1922. He participated in the May 28, 1926 coup d'état that overthrew the First Republic and created the National Dictatorship, which would pave the way to the Estado Novo (New State). 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 (Portuguese Legion), Deputy National Commissar of the Mocidade Portuguesa (Portuguese Youth) and Procurator to the Corporative Chamber. 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" (which could be translated to "Roguery of the Homo Sapiens") in 1933, which attacked both the "crooks monarchy" and the "bandits republic" in his subtitle. A supporter of Hitler, he later changed his sympathies towards the Allies and came to the Azores during World War II, by the occasion of the Portuguese-British Agreement. The Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP) was founded on March 14, 1945 by Delgado, then Director of the Civil Aeronautics Secretariat, with the purchase of the first aircrafts that year, two DC-3 Dakota. On September 19, 1946, the first commercial line was inaugurated between Lisbon and Madrid, and on December 31 of that year, the Imperial Air Line was inaugurated, between Lisbon, Luanda and Lourenço Marques, former designation of Maputo, with 12 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, France and Seville, Spain. The flight to London began in 1949. In 1952 he was appointed military attaché and aeronautic attaché at the Portuguese Embassy in Washington D.C. and a member of the NATO Military Representatives Committee, which pushed his ideology in a liberal democratic direction, and inspired him to run as the democratic opposition's candidate for the Portuguese presidency in 1958. 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. In a famous interview on May 10, 1958, in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked what would be his attitude towards Salazar, Delgado made one of the most famous quotations in Portuguese politics: "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 epithet of "General sem Medo" ("Fearless General" or literally "General without fear"). Nevertheless, Delgado was ultimately credited with less than 25% of the votes, with 76.4% in favor of Américo Tomás, the regime's candidate. Salazar refused to allow opposition representatives to observe the ballot count. Tomás' margin was inflated by massive ballot-box stuffing by the regime's secret police (PIDE), leading to speculation that Delgado might have actually won had Salazar allowed an honest election. Delgado was expelled from the Portuguese military, and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy before going into exile, spending much of it in Brazil and later in Algeria, as a guest of Ben Bella. During the period of his exile in Brazil he was supported by Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança, a claimant to the Portuguese Throne. In 1964, he founded the Portuguese National Liberation Front in Rome, stating in public that the only solution to end the Estado Novo would be by a military coup, while many others advocated for a national uprising approach. After being lured into an ambush by the PIDE near the Spanish border town of Olivenza, Delgado and his Brazilian secretary, Arajaryr Moreira de Campos, were murdered on February 13, 1965 while trying to clandestinely enter Portugal. The official version claimed that Delgado was shot and killed in self-defence despite Delgado being unarmed and his secretary strangled. Their bodies were found some two months later, near the Spanish village of Villanueva del Fresno. Casimiro Monteiro, a PIDE agent, shot and killed General Delgado, and strangled his secretary. Salazar, who approved the assassination, when told of the killings, said simply, "Uma maçada" ("Such a bother"). Later appearing on national television, Salazar claimed ignorance of the secret police's involvement and blamed quarreling opposition forces for the killings. PIDE subsequently claimed that the original plan was an extraordinary rendition in which Delgado was to be kidnapped and brought back to Portugal for trial. In 1981, a Portuguese court convicted Monteiro in absentia, effectively accepting the argument that Monteiro had acted contrary to orders by killing Delgado. In January 1975 his remains were moved from Spain to Prazeres Cemetery, in Lisbon. In 1990, Delgado was posthumously promoted to Marshal of the Portuguese Air Force, the only person in the country to hold this rank posthumously. Delgado's remains were ultimately moved to the National Pantheon on October 5, 1990, following a decision of the Assembly of the Republic. In February 2015, on the 50th anniversary of his assassination, the Lisbon City Council proposed that the Lisbon Airport should be renamed in his honor. The government accepted the proposal and on May 15, 2016, the airport was renamed as Airport Humberto Delgado.