Sales), as Brazil's financial situation was not going well. His foreign policy maintained the rapprochement with the United States, outlined by the chancellor, the Baron of Rio Branco, who continued as minister of Foreign Affairs until 1912, when he died. Internally, the program for the construction of railways continued, including the Madeira-Mamoré railroad and technical-professional schools, outlined in the Afonso Pena government. The University of Paraná was created. Fonseca also completed the renovations and works of the Vila Militar de Deodoro and the Central Hospital of the Army, among others, in addition to the workers' villages in Rio de Janeiro, in the suburb of Marechal Hermes and in the neighborhood of Gávea. With the increasing union mobilizations in Rio de Janeiro, president Hermes took an attitude hitherto unheard of in the First Brazilian Republic, which tended to repress union movements; In 1912, by transporting and providing facilities, he sponsored the holding of the Fourth Brazilian Workers Congress, which had been organized by his son, then deputy Mário Hermes. Such government action, however, was viewed with suspicion by union leaders, who disliked the so-called "yellow" unionist current, which sought collaboration with the government. He was the only president to marry during the presidential term, his first wife, Orsina Francioni da Fonseca, whom he married on 16 April 1879, died on 30 November 1912. His second wife was the caricaturist Nair de Tefé von Hoonholtz, daughter of the Baron of Tefé. Nair would later be considered a feminist; she took part in the first celebrations of the International Women's Year. The civil and religious ceremonies took place on 8 December 1913, at the Rio Negro Palace, in Petrópolis. During his government, a decree was issued instituting the use of the presidential sash in Brazil. Hermes da Fonseca was the first president to use it and the first to pass it on to his successor. Since then, all presidents have received it on inauguration. Hermes da Fonseca is one of the only three military officers who reached the Presidency of the Republic in a direct and electoral way. The other two were Eurico Gaspar Dutra and Jair Bolsonaro. Throughout his tenure he was in military uniform, including during ministerial meetings. Later years Upon leaving the presidency, in November 1914, he ran for the Senate for Rio Grande do Sul, but refused to assume the chair, due to the murder of Pinheiro Machado, on