She waltzed with Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson, turned over her own bed to a visiting Richard M. Nixon, and helped convince Americans that the Marcoses alone stood between order and Communist chaos — while distracting them from accumulating evidence of torture, executions and disappearances. Mr. Marcos treasured Imelda as a political asset, once calling her his “secret weapon.” Yet after the dust cleared, it was obvious that her hubris had hastened his downfall. It’s no wonder witnesses reported hearing Mr. Marcos turn to his wife, while awaiting the American helicopters that whisked them away from their palace, and growl, “It’s all your fault.”
