The Phalange party militia was not only the largest and best organized political paramilitary force in Lebanon but also the oldest. It was founded in 1937 as the "Militants' organization" (, "Tanẓīm al-muqātilīn") by the President of the Party, the za'im (political boss) Pierre Gemayel and William Hawi, a Lebanese-American glass industrialist, who led them during the 1958 civil war. Fighting alongside the pro-government forces in support of President Camille Chamoun, the Phalangists defended the Matn District, a traditional Phalangist stronghold centered at the town of Bikfaya – the Gemayel family's feudal seat –, and kept the main roads connecting Beirut to that territory open, where the Gemayels held numerous commercial interests.