Teodoro Picado Michalski

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Teodoro Picado Michalski President of Costa Rica Term of office: 8 May 1944 to 8 May 1948 – Preceded by: Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia – Succeeded by: José Figueres Ferrer Date of birth: 10 January 1900 Place of birth: Paraíso, Cartago, Costa Rica Date of death: 1 June 1960 Place of death: Managua, Nicaragua Party: Republicano Nacional

Teodoro Picado Michalski (10 January 1900—1 June 1960) was the President of Costa Rica from 1944 to 1948.

Teodoro Picado Michalski was one of the most erudite presidents to govern Costa Rica during the last century. He not only mastered several languages (English, Polish, French, and could converse in Russian, Italian & German) but was profoundly learned in jurisprudence and classical studies. He graduated as a lawyer in 1922. He was the most distinguished disciple of three-time President Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno and was an educator of the stature of Omar Dengo.

During his Administration many laws to modernize the State were sanctioned. The most outstanding was the great electoral reform of 1945, which provided the nation with a modern Electoral Code of Laws and a Supreme Tribunal of Elections; which were very advanced for their time and are in full force and effect at present, without any substantial modifications, and have been a guarantee to the Nation's continued democratic elections. This Great Electoral Reform, which was nearly buried in the Annals of Congress due to the merciless opposition it suffered, was saved thanks to the historical Executive Order, known in Costa Rican history as the "Blank Check", decreed by President Picado on the 21st of November of 1945 and published in the Official Gazette the day after. This Decree, pronounced at a time of great political turmoil, permitted the inclusion of all the great innovations contemplated in the Electoral Code of Laws into the legislation in force by Congress on the 11th of December of 1945.

Before reaching the presidency, don Teodoro, in his capacity as President of the Constitutional Congress, had a very important and active role in approving the Social Reforms of the government of Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (1940-1944). He was equally brilliant as Secretary of Education in the third administration of Ricardo Jiménez (1932-1936) and was Director of the Institute of Alajuela (1930), where he left a lasting and valuable impression upon his disciples. In addition, his Master Classes on Civil Law in the Old Law School, starting in 1937, were outstanding due to his gift as an educator and vast knowledge.

Teodoro Picado M. was also an eminent historian, wrote many and varied books and essays on the subject matter and other themes, and was a respected member of the Academy of Geography and History of Costa Rica and the Academy of the Spanish Language of Nicaragua. The recent publication of his posthumous Memoirs ISBN 9968-31-164-2, which were lost for 50 years, have come to shed new and interesting light from a totally different perspective, verifiable and completely documented, into the events that led to the Revolution of 1948. Contrary to popular belief that he was deposed by the armed uprising led by José Figueres Ferrer over the disputed elections for his successor, don Teodoro never resigned the presidency and completed his Constitutional Term while on an Official Visit to the Republic of Nicaragua, leaving his vice-president, Santos León Herrera, in charge of the country as acting-President.

Due to the difficult and persecutory political climate prevalent in the country during the de facto Provisional Government led by José Figueres, in the aftermath of the revolution, he remained in Nicaragua, where he lived in exile until his death. His body was brought back to Costa Rica and given a funeral befitting a former President of the Republic, and is buried in the town of his ancestors, Paraíso, Cartago.

He was the son of the doctors Teodoro Picado Marín and the Polish native Jadwisia Warnia Michalska Wodziwodska, who met and married in Switzerland while they both were studying medicine.

His great-grandparents were Teodoro Picado Solano married to Rita Morales García; Manuel Antonio Marín married to María Ambrosia Irola Alvarado; Josafat Warnia-Michalski married to (?); Konstante Wodziwodski married to Concordia Spreglewska Clabon de la Tour.

His grandparents were José Francisco Picado Morales married to Eulogía Marín Irola and Josef Warnia-Michalski married to Kamila Wodziwodska Spreglewska.

In his first marriage Teodoro Picado Michalski married Mercedes Lara Fernández and had two children, Teodoro Picado Lara and Clemencia Picado Lara, both living and with children. His second marriage was with Etelvina Ramírez and they had one daughter, María Cecilia Picado Ramírez, married to Dr. Bruno Bellemo, who live in Venice, Italy, and have two daughters. He also has relatives in Poland and elsewhere. Clemencia Picado Lara has one son named Fernán Soto Picado. Teodoro Picado Lara has 5 children: Susan, Janet, Teodoro, María and Nancy(†).