General Augusto Tasso Fragoso, better known as Tasso Fragoso (São Luiz, Maranhão 28 August 1869 – 20 September 1945) was a Brazilian soldier, judge of the Superior Military Tribunal (Superior Tribunal Militar, STM) and writer. During the Revolution of 1930 he was president of the Provisional Government Board of 1930, which ruled Brazil from 24 October to 3 November, between the deposition of President Washington Luis and the inauguration of Getúlio Vargas. He was also the cousin of Portuguese President António Óscar Fragoso Carmona. He was the first citizen from Maranhão to become President of Brazil. Early life Augusto Tasso Fragoso was born in São Luís, state capital of Maranhão, in 1869. In his official documents he says that he was born in 1867, due to the change, common at the time, made by his father so that he could start his military life earlier. It was the result of the union of Maria Custódia de Souza Fragoso, born in Pará, and Joaquim Coelho Fragoso, a Portuguese from Baião, district of Porto. His father, Joaquim, was the manager of the Companhia de Navegação Fluvial and, according to the biographer of Tasso Fragoso, to whom “the province [of Maranhão] already owed the foundation of several industrial companies”. For his services, he was appointed vice-consul of Portugal in Maranhão and later elevated to the rank of Consul of Ceará and Piauí in 1894. Career Republican Coup A military man, while still young, he became acquainted, in Rio de Janeiro, with the positivist ideas disseminated by Benjamin Constant. Promoted to alferes-aluno (officer cadet) in January 1889, from April onwards he attended the General Staff and Engineering courses at the Escola Superior de Guerra (Superior War College), earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physical and natural sciences. During this period, he participated in the articulations of the movement for the implantation of the Republic in Brazil. In October, when relations between the emperor, Dom Pedro II, and the army were tense, he spoke on behalf of his colleagues in honor of Benjamin Constant, affirming everyone's determination to accompany the professor “in the transformation about to take place in our country”. After this act, Benjamim Constant was dismissed from his duties and the students were reprimanded. Around November 15, upon hearing of movements for the proclamation of the Republic, Tasso Fragoso, in uniform and armed, joined other comrades and headed for the school, where