[1] Picado governed Costa Rica immediately after the presidency of Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia and preceded the de facto junta of José Figueres.

According to recent, documented studies, by historians Fabrice Lehoucq and Ivan Molina, though there was some minor electoral fraud in a few voting tables far removed from the capital, it was not enough to have changed the outcome of the landslide election.

This electoral reform was saved by an executive order known in Costa Rican history as the "Blank Check", decreed by President Picado on November the 21st, 1945 and published in the Official Gazette the day after.

This decree permitted the inclusion of all the major innovations contemplated in the Electoral Code of Laws into the legislation in force by Congress on December 11, 1945.

José Figueres Ferrer, with the help of "La Legion del Caribe" of which Fidel Castro was a prominent member (See Dr. Rosendo Argüello "Quienes y Como Nos Traicionaron"), led the revolution, defeating the Costa Rican Army, loyal to Calderón and President Picado.

Due to the difficult and persecutory political climate prevalent in the country during the de facto Provisional Government of José Figueres, in the aftermath of the revolution, he remained in Nicaragua, where he lived in exile until his death.

He also served 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 impression upon his disciples.

He not only spoke several languages (English, Polish, French, and could converse in Russian, Italian, and German) but was learned in jurisprudence and classical studies.