Gualberto Villarroel assumed office as the 39th President of Bolivia on 20 December 1943, and his term was violently cut short by his death on 21 July 1946. A colonel during the Chaco War, Villarroel and the Reason for the Fatherland (RADEPA) military lodge joined the fledgling Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) to overthrow President Enrique Peñaranda in a .