h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ferdinand Marcos was never a General. Aside from "Commander-in-Chief" his highest military rank was "Major", although there is much skepticism about the legitimacy of his commission as well as the medals he allegedly earned for valor in the battle for Bataan.

In any event, he was elected President of the Philippines in 1965 and re-elected in 1969. He loved the job so much that he declared Martial Law in 1972, abolished Congress, and caused the ratification of a new consitution that granted him virtually absolute power. He stayed on as dictator (he never called himself that, of course, preferring the title of President, except for a brief period when he was President AND Prime Minister of a non-existent National Assembly) until he was ousted by a disgruntled populace in 1986.