Much of the 20th century was dominated by José María Velasco Ibarra, whose five presidential terms began with a mandate in 1934 and final presidency ending in 1972. However, the only term he actually completed was his third from 1952 to 1956. Much of the century was also dominated by the territorial dispute between Peru and Ecuador. In 1941 Ecuador invaded Peruvian territory, and the Peruvians counterattacked and forced them to retreat into their own territory. At that time Ecuador was immersed in internal political fights and was not well equipped to win its offensive war. With the world at war, Ecuador attempted to settle the matter by means of a third-party settlement. In Brazil the two countries' negotiations were overseen by four "Guarantor" states (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States — four of the most powerful countries in the region). The resulting treaty is known as the Rio Protocol. The protocol became the focus of a surge of Ecuadorian national pride and concomitant opposition, which resulted in an uprising and overthrow of the government. The Quiteño multitudes stood in the pouring rain on May 31, 1944, to hear Velasco promise a "national resurrection", with social justice and due punishment for the "corrupt Liberal oligarchy" that had been responsible for "staining the national honor", believed that they were witnessing the birth of a popular revolution. Arroyo partisans were promptly jailed or sent into exile, while Velasco verbally baited the business community and the rest of the political right. The leftist elements within Velasco's Democratic Alliance, which dominated the constituent assembly that was convened to write a new constitution, were nonetheless destined to be disappointed. In May 1945, after a year of growing hostility between the president and the assembly, which was vainly awaiting deeds to substantiate Velasco's rhetorical advocacy of social justice, the mercurial chief executive condemned and then repudiated the newly completed constitution. After dismissing the assembly, Velasco held elections for a new assembly, which in 1946 drafted a far more conservative constitution that met with the president's approval. For this brief period, Conservatives replaced the left as Velasco's base of support. Rather than attending to the nation's economic problems, however, Velasco aggravated them by financing the dubious schemes of his associates. Inflation continued unabated, as did its negative impact on the national standard of living, and by 1947 foreign exchange reserves had fallen to dangerously low levels. In August, when Velasco was ousted by his minister of defense, nobody rose to defend the man who, only three years earlier, had been hailed as the nation's savior.