This gave him the power base to remove his wife's uncle, Juan Bautista Sacasa, from the presidency, and make himself president in 1937. In 1947, an ally nominally succeeded him, but he retained power.

A month after his successor had been inaugurated, Somoza used the military to carry out a coup. The president was declared "incapacitated" by Congress and Somoza served in his stead. Returning to power in his own name in 1950, he maintained an iron grip on his own