[1] Fernández's three-day rule is the shortest term ever served by a President of Panama.

With former President Harmodio Arias Madrid, he was the founder, architect, and for several years, main leader, of the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), until for health reasons he stepped down in 1940 after organizing the party for Arnulfo Arias Madrid.

[citation needed] Fernandez remained leader of the party until Arnulfo Arias Madrid won the election.

Then, President Arnulfo Arias Madrid, appointed him as the Panamanian Ambassador to Costa Rica where he negotiated the Echandi-Fernández Jaén Treaty, ending a long border controversy that led both countries to war (the Coto War).

After his first wife died, he remarried (with Zoila Adela Moré Ochoa) and had three other children.