Among the party's most prominent supporters were Humberto Guzmán Fricke, Juan Lechín, Carlos Montenegro, Walter Guevara Arze, Javier del Granado, Augusto Céspedes, Lydia Gueiler, Guillermo Bedregal, and Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, a number of whom later became presidents of Bolivia.

The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement led the leftist Bolivian National Revolution of 1952 and ruled the country until 1964 when it was overthrown by the military coup of René Barrientos.

During the presidencies of Paz Estenssoro (1952–56 and 1960–64) and Hernán Siles Zuazo (1956–60) were the top leaders of the Revolutionary period, establishing the universal vote, nationalizing the tin mines, and instituting an extensive agrarian reform.

With the main body of the MNR firmly behind Paz Estenssoro, the old leader made what can be seen as a major mistake in 1971, when he supported the coup d'état of Hugo Banzer Suárez.

The party placed second in 1997 elections, with the presidential candidate Juan Carlos Durán (at the time, the Bolivian constitution prohibited direct re-election of a sitting president) losing to the former dictator Banzer.

Its candidate in the presidential elections was Michiaki Nagatani, whose poor performance demonstrated a steep decline in the fortunes of the party as the Bolivian political scene began to be dominated by Evo Morales.

The party's future is uncertain as it is no longer represented in the parliament and its last government has been tarnished by serious accusations of corruption, economic mismanagement and armed suppression of protesters.