President from 1965 to 1986, when he was forced into exile in Hawaii by a popular front led by Corazon Aquino. He was backed by the USA when in power, but in 1988 US authorities indicted him and his wife Imelda Marcos for racketeering and embezzlement. Marcos was convicted while a law student 1939 of murdering a political opponent of his father, but eventually secured his own acquittal. In World War II he was a guerrilla fighter, survived the Japanese prison camps, and became president 1965. His regime became increasingly repressive, with secret pro-Marcos groups terrorizing and executing his opponents. He was overthrown and exiled 1986 by a nonviolent "people's power" movement, led by Corazon Aquino, widow of a murdered opposition leader, which obtained international and army support. A US grand jury investigating Marcos and his wife alleged that they had embezzled over $100 million from the government of the Philippines, received bribes, and defrauded US banks. Marcos was too ill to stand trial.
