80 years ago, on May 15, 1934, Latvian Prime Minister Karlis Ulmanis dissolved the Parliament (Saeima) and political parties. The Constitution was suspended and opposition newspapers were closed. In 1936, Ulmanis also appointed himself President of Latvia. His dictatorship continued until the Soviet occupation of Latvia in the summer of 1940. He only resigned on July 21, 1940, after trying to cooperate with the pro-Soviet government.