The Nicaraguan dictator and military leader Anastasio Somoza (1896-1956) used his position as commander of the national guard to overthrow the government in 1936, and he assumed the presidency in 1937. He ruled Nicaragua as a personal fief and was a hated symbol to many democrats.

Anastasio Somoza, born in San Marcos on Feb. 1, 1896, to Julia García and Anastasio Somoza, a coffee planter, received primary education in his village. After attending the Instituto Nacional de Oriente in Granada, Nicaragua, he went to Philadelphia to study at the Peirce School of Business Administration. While in Philadelphia he met his future wife, Salvadora Debayle, of a prominent Nicaraguan family. Returning to Nicaragua, he entered business; not very successful, he took various jobs before entering political life.

During the Liberal revolution against Emiliano Chamorro and Adolfo Diaz (1926-1927), Somoza joined the Liberal cause. When the Liberals returned to power after the...