It is easy to exaggerate the point and arrive at the wrong conclusion. Credit first the Filipinos, who won their own victory. Credit Cory Aquino's popular appeal and her surprising firmness and spunk, the steady and subtle support of the Catholic Church, the defection of the two military leaders. Then credit American diplomacy, which wanted Marcos out, but not so precipitously that chaos would follow. Presumably this helps explain Reagan's early waffling. What hastened the President's change of mind was the discovery that Congress and the American people were ahead of him in wanting Marcos out. The public response was an...
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