The Four Days of Courage: The Untold Story of the People Who Brought Marcos Down

by Bryan Johnson

This eyewitness account of the Philippine revolution includes the motivations behind the defections of Marcos's top officials, the political strategy of Corazon Aquino's supporters, and the true extent of the United States' involvement in the Marcos overthrow.

Genres: Politics

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing page-turning read. Really compelling and well done with limited personal commentary and many actual quotes and details from both sides. A must read for anyone interested in real history and the Philippines in particular

[Donmakles · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We Americans like to think we taught the Filipinos democracy. Well, tonight they are teaching the world.” ~CBS anchorman Bob Simon

I read this book back in my university days along with Criselda Yabes' The Boys From The Barracks: The Philippine Military After Edsa when I was working on a research paper about the people's power uprising on February 1986. The book mentioned the usual main points from the election campaign and fraudulent election, the civil disobedience, the defection of the "reformist" soldiers, and the aftermath that followed. Personally, I thought that event was a military coup or to be more precise, a combination of a civil disobedience and a military coup d'état. The military played a key role and perhaps far more important than the Roman Catholic Church and the political clans (traditional elites) that supported Ferdinand Marcos or Corazon Aquino.

The author interviewed several key players and even provided details of American involvement. Some American officials wanted to remain neutral while others, especially those close to the Reagan administration, were far more supportive of Ferdinand Marcos. Although, this shouldn't surprise anyone since the American government is known for directly or in this case "indirectly" influence regime-changing or nation-building in other countries. In fact, this is not the first time nor the last time that they got involved. In the 1950s, the Americans made sure that America's boy Ramon Magsaysay was elected into office who then went on to become one of the greatest presidents in the Philippine history.

Anyway, this book is a good read for those who are still blinded by the yellow ribbon that starved Filipinos to poverty for more than three decades. People Power was supposed to be a reset, but instead we reverted back into political patronage, populist politics and feudalistic democracy that elect politicians into public office based on their names, slogans, and false rhetoric.