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Jeane Kirkpatrick, on a visit to the Philippines, was welcomed by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos who quoted heavily from her 1979 Commentary article Dictatorships and Double Standards and although Kirkpatrick had been forced to speak-out in favor of democracy the article continued to influence Reagan ’ s policy toward Marcos.

Following the assassination of Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983 many within the Reagan administration including the President himself began to fear that the Philippines could fall to the communists and the U. S. military would lose its strongholds at Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Station.

Wolfowitz tried to change the administration ’ s policy, stating in an April 15, 1985 article in The Wall Street Journal that " The best antidote to Communism is democracy.

" Wolfowitz and his assistant Lewis Libby made trips to Manila where they called for democratic reforms and met with non-communist opposition leaders.