Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (20 October 1882 – 15 May 1966) was a Salvadoran military officer and politician who served as the president of El Salvador from 4 December 1931 to 28 August 1934 in an acting capacity and again in an official capacity from 1 March 1935 until his resignation on 9 May 1944. He was the leader of El Salvador during World War II. While he served as President Arturo Araujo's vice president and defense minister, a directorate seized power during a palace coup and afterwards named Hernández Martínez president of El Salvador. He served as president for almost 12 years and ruled the nation with an authoritarian one-party state led by the fascistic and anti-communist National Pro Patria Party. His rule was marked by rigged and fraudulent elections and brutality, most notably the 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre, known as La Matanza ("The Massacre"). Under his rule, El Salvador joined the Allied Powers during World War II on 8 December 1941 following the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. He modernized the nation through infrastructure projects such as the Pan-American Highway and the Cuscatlán Bridge. He also established the Central Reserve Bank, but he was eventually forced to resign on 9 May 1944 after a military mutiny the month prior and massive civil unrest. Early life Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was born on 20 October 1882 in San Matías, La Libertad, El Salvador. His parents were Raymundo Hernández and Petronila Martínez. He studied secondary education at the National Institute of El Salvador. After finishing his secondary education studies, he entered the Polytechnic School of Guatemala, where he obtained the degree of Sub-Lieutenant. He returned to El Salvador during the presidency of General Tomás Regalado Romero. Upon his return, he studied at the Facility of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences at the University of El Salvador (UES). He was promoted to lieutenant on 17 November 1903; to captain on 23 August 1906; to captain major the same year, during the Third Totoposte War with Guatemala where Hernández Martínez fought under Regalado Romero; to lieutenant colonel on 6 May 1909; and finally to colonel on 15 June 1914. On 14 July 1919, the National Legislative Assembly promoted him to the rank of brigadier general and the legislative decree was sanctioned by the president Jorge Meléndez Ramírez on 17 September. He became Minister of National Defense on 1 March 1931. Rise to power In the 1931