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Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He served with distinction in World War I, was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. MacArthur was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times, and received it for his service in the Philippines campaign. This made him along with his father Arthur MacArthur Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five men to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the U.S. Army, and the only one conferred the rank of field marshal in the Philippine Army.
Raised in a military family in the American Old West, MacArthur was valedictorian at the West Texas Military Academy and First Captain at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated top of the class of 1903. During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, he conducted a reconnaissance mission, for which he was nominated for the Medal of Honor. In 1917, he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division. On the Western Front during World War I, he rose to the rank of brigadier general, was again nominated for a Medal of Honor, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times.
From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, where he attempted a series of reforms. His next assignment was in the Philippines, where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny. In 1925, he became the Army's youngest major general. He served on the court-martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. As such, he was involved in the expulsion of the Bonus Army protesters from Washington, D.C., in 1932, and the establishment and organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1935, he became Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines. He retired from the Army in 1937 and continued as chief military advisor to the Philippines.
MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with a large portion of his air forces being destroyed on 8 December 1941 in the attack on Clark Field and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. MacArthur's forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island and escaped to Australia, where MacArthur became supreme commander, Southwest Pacific Area. Upon his arrival, MacArthur gave a speech in which he promised "I shall return" to the Philippines. After more than two years of fighting, he fulfilled that promise. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor. He officially accepted the surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945 and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. As the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War with initial success; however, the invasion of North Korea led the Chinese to enter the war, causing a series of major defeats. MacArthur was contentiously removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951. He later became chairman of the board of Remington Rand. He died in Washington, D.C., on 5 April 1964.
Early life and education
A military brat, Douglas MacArthur was born 26 January 1880, at Little Rock Barracks in Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur Jr., a U.S. Army captain, and his wife, Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur (nicknamed "Pinky").[1] Arthur Jr. was a son of Scottish-born jurist and politician Arthur MacArthur Sr.[2] Arthur Jr. would later receive the Medal of Honor for his actions with the Union Army in the Battle of Missionary Ridge during the American Civil War,[3] and be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.[4] Pinky came from a prominent Norfolk, Virginia, family.[1] Two of her brothers had fought for the South in the Civil War, and refused to attend her wedding.[5] MacArthur is also distantly related to Matthew C. Perry, a Commodore of the U.S. Navy.[6] Arthur and Pinky had three sons, of whom Douglas was the youngest, following Arthur III (born 1876), and Malcolm (1878).[7] The family lived on a succession of Army posts in the American Old West. Conditions were primitive, and Malcolm died of measles in 1883.[8] In his memoir, Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote "I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed, almost before I could walk and talk."[9] Douglas was extremely close with his mother and often considered a "mama's boy." Until around age 8, she dressed him in skirts and kept his hair long and in curls.[10]
MacArthur's time on the frontier ended in July 1889 when the family moved to Washington, D.C.,[11] where he attended the Force Public School. His father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in September 1893. While there MacArthur attended the West Texas Military Academy,[12] where he was awarded the gold medal for "scholarship and deportment". He played on the school tennis team, quarterback on the school football team, and shortstop on its baseball team. He was named valedictorian, with a final year average of 97.33 out of 100.[13] MacArthur's father and grandfather unsuccessfully sought to secure Douglas a presidential appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, first from Grover Cleveland and then from William McKinley;[14] both were rejected.[15] He later passed the examination for an appointment from Congressman Theobald Otjen,[12] scoring 93.3.[16] He later wrote: "It was a lesson I never forgot. Preparedness is the key to success and victory."[16]
MacArthur entered West Point on 13 June 1899,[17] and his mother moved to a suite at Craney's Hotel, which overlooked the grounds of the academy.[18] Hazing was widespread at West Point at this time, and MacArthur and his classmate Ulysses S. Grant III were singled out for special attention by Southern cadets as sons of generals with mothers living at Craney's. When Cadet Oscar Booz left West Point after being hazed and subsequently died of tuberculosis, there was a congressional inquiry. MacArthur was called to appear before a special Congressional committee in 1901, where he testified against cadets implicated in hazing, but downplayed his own hazing even though the other cadets gave the full story to the committee. Congress subsequently outlawed acts "of a harassing, tyrannical, abusive, shameful, insulting or humiliating nature", although hazing continued.[19] MacArthur was a corporal in Company B in his second year, a first sergeant in Company A in his third year and First Captain in his final year.[20] He played left field for the baseball team and academically earned 2424.12 merits out of a possible 2470.00 or 98.14%, which was the third-highest score ever recorded. He graduated first in his 93-man class on 11 June 1903.[21] At the time it was customary for the top-ranking cadets to be commissioned into the United States Army Corps of Engineers, therefore, MacArthur was commissioned as a second lieutenant in that corps.[22]
Junior officer
MacArthur spent his graduation furlough with his parents at Fort Mason, California, where his father, now a major general, was commanding the Department of the Pacific. Afterward, he joined the 3rd Engineer Battalion, which departed for the Philippines in October 1903. MacArthur was sent to Iloilo, where he supervised the construction of a wharf at Camp Jossman. He conducted surveys at Tacloban City, Calbayog and Cebu City. In November 1903, while working on Guimaras, he was ambushed by a pair of Filipino brigands or guerrillas; he shot and killed both.[23] He was promoted to first lieutenant in Manila in April 1904.[24] In October 1904, his tour of duty was cut short when he contracted malaria and dhobi itch during a survey on Bataan. He returned to San Francisco, where he was assigned to the California Debris Commission. In July 1905, he became chief engineer of the Division of the Pacific.[25]
In October 1905, MacArthur received orders to proceed to Tokyo for appointment as aide-de-camp to his father. A man who knew the MacArthurs at this time wrote that "Arthur MacArthur was the most flamboyantly egotistical man I had ever seen, until I met his son."[27] They inspected Japanese military bases at Nagasaki, Kobe and Kyoto, then headed to India via Shanghai, Hong Kong, Java and Singapore, reaching Calcutta in January 1906. In India, they visited Madras, Tuticorin, Quetta, Karachi, the Northwest Frontier and the Khyber Pass. They then sailed to China via Bangkok and Saigon, and toured Canton, Qingdao, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou and Shanghai before returning to Japan in June. The next month they returned to the United States,[28] where Arthur MacArthur resumed his duties at Fort Mason, still with Douglas as his aide. In September, Douglas received orders to report to the 2nd Engineer Battalion at the Washington Barracks and enroll in the Engineer School. While there he served as "an aide to assist at White House functions" at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt.[29]
In August 1907, MacArthur was sent to the engineer district office in Milwaukee, where his parents were living. In April 1908, he was posted to Fort Leavenworth, where he was given his first command, Company K, 3rd Engineer Battalion.[29] He became battalion adjutant in 1909 and then engineer officer at Fort Leavenworth in 1910. MacArthur was promoted to captain in February 1911 and was appointed as head of the Military Engineering Department and the Field Engineer School. He participated in exercises at San Antonio, Texas, with the Maneuver Division in 1911 and served in Panama on detached duty in January and February 1912. The sudden death of their father on 5 September 1912 brought Douglas and his brother Arthur back to Milwaukee to care for their mother, whose health had deteriorated. MacArthur requested a transfer to Washington, D.C., so his mother could be near Johns Hopkins Hospital. Army Chief of Staff, Major General Leonard Wood, took up the matter with Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who arranged for MacArthur to be posted to the Office of the Chief of Staff in 1912.[30]
Veracruz expedition
On 21 April 1914, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the occupation of Veracruz. MacArthur joined the headquarters staff sent to the area, arriving on 1 May 1914. He realized that the logistic support of an advance from Veracruz would require the railroad. Finding plenty of railroad cars in Veracruz but no locomotives, MacArthur set out to verify a report that there were locomotives in Alvarado. For $150 in gold, he acquired a handcar and the services of three Mexicans, whom he disarmed. MacArthur and his party located five engines in Alvarado, two of which were only switchers, but the other three were exactly what was required. On the way back to Veracruz, his party was set upon by five armed men. The party made a run for it and outdistanced all but two of the armed men, whom MacArthur shot. Soon after, they were attacked by about fifteen horsemen. MacArthur took three bullets in his clothes but was unharmed. One of his companions was lightly wounded before the horsemen retired, after MacArthur shot four of them. Further on, the party was attacked a third time by three horsemen. MacArthur received another bullet hole in his shirt, but his men, using their handcar, managed to outrun all but one of their attackers. MacArthur shot both that man and his horse; the party had to remove the horse's carcass from the track before proceeding.[31]
A fellow officer wrote to Wood recommending that MacArthur be put forward for the Medal of Honor. Wood did so, and Chief of Staff Hugh L. Scott convened a board to consider the award.[32] The board questioned "the advisability of this enterprise having been undertaken without the knowledge of the commanding general on the ground".[33] This was Brigadier General Frederick Funston, a Medal of Honor recipient himself, who considered awarding the medal to MacArthur "entirely appropriate and justifiable".[34] However, the board feared that "to bestow the award recommended might encourage any other staff officer, under similar conditions, to ignore the local commander, possibly interfering with the latter's plans"; consequently, MacArthur received no award.[35]
World War I
Rainbow Division
MacArthur returned to the War Department, where he was promoted to major on 11 December 1915. In June 1916, he was assigned as head of the Bureau of Information at the office of the Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker. MacArthur has since been regarded as the Army's first press officer.[36]
Following the declaration of war on Germany on 6 April 1917 and the subsequent American entry into World War I, Baker and MacArthur secured an agreement from President Wilson for the use of the National Guard on the Western Front. MacArthur suggested sending first a division organized from units of different states, so as to avoid the appearance of favoritism toward any particular state. Baker approved the creation of this formation, which became the 42nd ("Rainbow") Division and appointed Major General William Abram Mann, the head of the National Guard Bureau, as its commander; MacArthur was its chief of staff, and with his new role came the rank of colonel, skipping the rank of lieutenant colonel.[37] At MacArthur's request, this commission was in the infantry rather than the engineers.[38][39]
From its formation at Camp Mills, Long Island in August 1917, MacArthur was the division's key sparkplug, prime motivator, and individual most responsible for its creation. Competent, efficient, innovative, highly intelligent, and tirelessly energetic, as division chief of staff MacArthur appeared everywhere, at all hours – badgering, cajoling, inspiring, intervening, and attending to every detail, large and small.[40]
The 42nd Division's initial training emphasized open-field combat rather than trench warfare. It sailed in a convoy from Hoboken, New Jersey, for the Western Front on 18 October 1917. On 19 December the 42nd's commander, the 63-year-old Mann, was replaced by 55-year-old Major General Charles T. Menoher, after Mann–who was "ill, old, and bedridden"–[41] failed a physical examination.[42][43] The new division commander and his chief of staff "became great friends", in MacArthur's words, who further described Menoher as "an able officer, an efficient administrator, of genial disposition and unimpeachable character".[44]
Lunéville-Baccarat Defensive sector
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The 42nd Division entered the line in the quiet Lunéville sector in February 1918. On 26 February, MacArthur and Captain Thomas T. Handy accompanied a French trench raid in which MacArthur assisted in the capture of a number of German prisoners. The commander of the French VII Corps, Major General Georges de Bazelaire, decorated MacArthur with the Croix de Guerre. This was the first ever Croix de Guerre awarded to a member of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).[45] Menoher recommended MacArthur for a Silver Star, which he later received.[46] The Silver Star Medal was not instituted until 8 August 1932, but small Silver Citation Stars were authorized to be worn on the campaign ribbons of those cited in orders for gallantry, similar to the British mention in despatches.[47] When the Silver Star Medal was instituted, it was retroactively awarded to those who had been awarded Silver Citation Stars.[48] On 9 March, the 42nd Division launched three raids of its own on German trenches in the Salient du Feys. MacArthur accompanied a company of the 168th Infantry. This time, his leadership was rewarded with the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). A few days later, MacArthur, who was strict about his men carrying their gas masks but often neglected to bring his own, was gassed. He recovered in time to show Secretary Baker around the area on 19 March.[49]
Champagne-Marne offensive
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Upon the recommendation of Menoher, MacArthur was awarded his first "star" when he was promoted to brigadier general on 26 June.[52] At the age of just thirty-eight, this made him the youngest general in the AEF. This would remain the case until October when two other men, Lesley J. McNair and Pelham D. Glassford, both being thirty-five, also received promotion to brigadier generals.[53][54]
Around the same time, the 42nd Division was shifted to Châlons-en-Champagne to oppose the impending German Champagne-Marne offensive. Général d'Armée Henri Gouraud of the French Fourth Army elected to meet the attack with a defense in depth, holding the front-line area as thinly as possible and meeting the German attack on his second line of defense. His plan succeeded, and MacArthur was awarded a second Silver Star.[55] The 42nd Division participated in the subsequent Allied counter-offensive, and MacArthur was awarded a third Silver Star on 29 July.[56]
Two days later, Menoher relieved the fifty-eight-year-old Brigadier General Robert A. Brown of the 84th Infantry Brigade (which consisted of the 167th and 168th Infantry Regiments and the 151st Machine Gun Battalion) of his command and replaced him with MacArthur.[56] Hearing reports that the enemy had withdrawn, MacArthur went forward on 2 August to see for himself.[57] He later wrote:
It was 3:30 that morning when I started from our right at Sergy. Taking runners from each outpost liaison group to the next, moving by way of what had been No Man's Land, I will never forget that trip. The dead were so thick in spots we tumbled over them. There must have been at least 2,000 of those sprawled bodies. I identified the insignia of six of the best German divisions. The stench was suffocating. Not a tree was standing. The moans and cries of wounded men sounded everywhere. Sniper bullets sung like the buzzing of a hive of angry bees. An occasional shellburst always drew an angry oath from my guide. I counted almost a hundred disabled guns various size and several times that number of abandoned machine guns.[58]
MacArthur reported back to Menoher and Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett, the commander of I Corps (under whose command the 42nd Division fell), that the Germans had indeed withdrawn, and was awarded a fourth Silver Star.[59] He was also awarded a second Croix de guerre and made a commandeur of the Légion d'honneur.[60] MacArthur's leadership during the Champagne-Marne offensive and counter-offensive campaigns was noted by General Gouraud when he said MacArthur was "one of the finest and bravest officers I have ever served with."[61]
Battle of Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensive
The 42nd Division earned a few weeks rest,[62] returning to the line for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel on 12 September 1918. The Allied advance proceeded rapidly, and MacArthur was awarded a fifth Silver Star for his leadership of the 84th Infantry Brigade.[63] In his later life he recalled:
In Essey I saw a sight I shall never quite forget. Our advance been so rapid the Germans had evacuated in a panic. There was a German officer's horse saddled and equipped standing in a barn, a battery of guns complete in every detail, and the entire administration and music of a regimental band.[64]
He received a sixth Silver Star for his participation in a raid on the night of 25–26 September. The 42nd Division was relieved on the night of 30 September and moved to the Argonne sector where it relieved the 1st Division on the night of 11 October. On a reconnaissance the next day, MacArthur was gassed again, earning a second Wound Chevron.[65]
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The 42nd Division's participation in the Meuse–Argonne offensive began on 14 October when it attacked with both brigades. That evening, a conference was called to discuss the attack, during which Major General Charles P. Summerall, commander of V Corps, telephoned and demanded that Châtillon be taken by 18:00 the next evening. An aerial photograph had been obtained that showed a gap in the German barbed wire to the northeast of Châtillon. Lieutenant Colonel Walter E. Bare—the commander of the 167th Infantry—proposed an attack from that direction, covered by a machine-gun barrage. MacArthur adopted this plan.[66] He was wounded, but not severely, while leading a reconnaissance patrol into no man's land at night to confirm the existence of the gap in the barbed wire.[67] As he mentioned to William Addleman Ganoe a few years later, the Germans saw them and shot at MacArthur and the squad with artillery and machine guns. MacArthur was the sole survivor of the patrol, claiming it was a miracle that he survived. He confirmed that there was indeed an enormous, exposed gap in that area due to the lack of enemy gunfire coming from that area.[68]
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Summerall nominated MacArthur for the Medal of Honor and promotion to major general, but he received neither.[69] Instead, he was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross.[70] The 42nd Division returned to the line for the last time on the night of 4–5 November 1918.[71] In the final advance on Sedan. MacArthur later wrote that this operation "narrowly missed being one of the great tragedies of American history".[72] An order to disregard unit boundaries led to units crossing into each other's zones. In the resulting chaos, MacArthur was taken prisoner by men of the 1st Division, who mistook him for a German general.[73] This would be soon resolved by the removal of his hat and long scarf that he wore.[74] His performance in the attack on the Meuse heights led to his being awarded a seventh Silver Star. On 10 November, a day before the armistice with Germany that ended the fighting, MacArthur was appointed commander of the 42nd Division, upon the recommendation of its outgoing commander, Menoher, who had left to take over the newly activated VI Corps.[75][76] For his service as the 42nd's chief of staff and commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade, he was later awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal.[77]
His period in command of the 42nd Division was brief, for on 22 November he, like other brigadier generals, was replaced and returned to the 84th Infantry Brigade, with Major General Clement Flagler, his former battalion commander from Fort Leavenworth days before the war, instead taking command. It is possible that he may have retained command of the 42nd had he been promoted to major general (making him the youngest in the U.S. Army) but, with the sudden cessation of hostilities, that was unlikely. General Peyton C. March, the Army Chief of Staff (and close friend of Arthur MacArthur), "had put a block on promotions. There would be no more stars awarded while the War Department got to grips with demobilization. MacArthur returned to commanding the 84th Brigade".[78][79]
The 42nd Division was chosen to participate in the occupation of the Rhineland, occupying the Ahrweiler district.[80] In April 1919, the 42nd Division entrained for Brest and Saint-Nazaire, where they boarded ships to return to the United States. MacArthur traveled on the ocean liner SS Leviathan, which reached New York on 25 April 1919.[81][82]
Between the wars
Superintendent of the United States Military Academy
Shortly after the return home, MacArthur's 84th Brigade was demobilized at Camp Dodge, Iowa, on 12 May 1919.[83] The following month, he became Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which General March, "an acerbic, thin-lipped intellectual",[83] felt had become out of date in many respects and was much in need of reform.[84] Accepting the post, "one of the most prestigious in the army",[85] also allowed MacArthur to retain his rank of brigadier general (which was only temporary and for the duration of the war), instead of being reduced to his substantive rank of major like many of his contemporaries.[85][86] When MacArthur moved into the superintendent's house with his mother,[87] he became the youngest superintendent since Sylvanus Thayer in 1817.[88][89] However, whereas Thayer had faced opposition from outside the army, MacArthur had to overcome resistance from graduates and the academic board.[90]
MacArthur's vision of what was required of an officer came not just from his recent experience of combat in France, but also from that of the occupation of the Rhineland in Germany. The military government of the Rhineland had required the Army to deal with political, economic and social problems but he had found that many West Point graduates had little or no knowledge of fields outside of the military sciences.[87] During the war, West Point had been reduced to little more than an officer candidate school, with five classes being graduated in two years. Cadet and staff morale was low and hazing "at an all-time peak of viciousness".[91] MacArthur's first change turned out to be the easiest. Congress had set the length of the course at three years. MacArthur was able to get the four-year course restored.[92]
During the debate over the length of the course, The New York Times brought up the issue of the cloistered and undemocratic nature of student life at West Point.[92] Also, starting with Harvard University in 1869, civilian universities had begun grading students on academic performance alone, but West Point had retained the old "whole man" concept of education. MacArthur sought to modernize the system, expanding the concept of military character to include bearing, leadership, efficiency and athletic performance. He formalized the hitherto unwritten Cadet Honor Code in 1922 when he formed the Cadet Honor Committee to review alleged code violations. Elected by the cadets themselves, it had no authority to punish, but acted as a kind of grand jury, reporting offenses to the commandant.[93] MacArthur attempted to end hazing by using officers rather than upperclassmen to train the plebes.[94]
Instead of the traditional summer camp at Fort Clinton, MacArthur had the cadets trained to use modern weapons by regular army sergeants at Fort Dix; they then marched back to West Point with full packs.[94] He attempted to modernize the curriculum by adding liberal arts, government and economics courses, but encountered strong resistance from the academic board. In Military Art classes, the study of the campaigns of the American Civil War was replaced with the study of those of World War I. In History class, more emphasis was placed on the Far East. MacArthur expanded the sports program, increasing the number of intramural sports and requiring all cadets to participate.[95] He allowed upper class cadets to leave the reservation, and sanctioned a cadet newspaper, The Brag, forerunner of today's West Pointer. He also permitted cadets to travel to watch their football team play, and gave them a monthly allowance of $5 (equivalent to $91 in 2023).[96] Professors and alumni alike protested these radical moves.[94] Most of MacArthur's West Point reforms were soon discarded but, in the ensuing years, his ideas became accepted and his innovations were gradually restored.[97]
Army's youngest major general
MacArthur became romantically involved with socialite and multi-millionaire heiress Louise Cromwell Brooks. They were married at her family's villa in Palm Beach, Florida, on 14 February 1922. Rumors circulated that General Pershing, who had also courted Louise, had threatened to exile them to the Philippines if they were married. Pershing denied this as "all damn poppycock".[98] More recently, Richard B. Frank has written that Pershing and Brooks had already "severed" their relationship by the time of MacArthur's transfer; Brooks was, however, "informal" engaged to a close aide of Pershing's (she broke off the relationship in order to accept MacArthur's proposal). Pershing's letter concerning MacArthur's transfer predated—by a few days—Brooks's and MacArthur's engagement announcement, though this did not dispel the newspaper gossip.[99] In October 1922, MacArthur left West Point and sailed to the Philippines with Louise and her two children, Walter and Louise, to assume command of the Military District of Manila.[100] MacArthur was fond of the children, and spent much of his free time with them.[101]
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The revolts in the Philippines had been suppressed, the islands were peaceful now, and in the wake of the Washington Naval Treaty, the garrison was being reduced.[102] MacArthur's friendships with Filipinos like Manuel Quezon offended some people. "The old idea of colonial exploitation", he later conceded, "still had its vigorous supporters."[103] In February and March 1923 MacArthur returned to Washington to see his mother, who was ill from a heart ailment. She recovered, but it was the last time he saw his brother Arthur, who died suddenly from appendicitis in December 1923. In June 1923, MacArthur assumed command of the 23rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Division. On 7 July 1924, he was informed that a mutiny had broken out amongst the Philippine Scouts over grievances concerning pay and allowances. Over 200 were arrested and there were fears of an insurrection. MacArthur was able to calm the situation, but his subsequent efforts to improve the salaries of Filipino troops were frustrated by financial stringency and racial prejudice. On 17 January 1925, at the age of 44, he was promoted, becoming the Army's youngest major general.[104]
Returning to the U.S., MacArthur took command of the IV Corps Area, based at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 May 1925.[105] However, he encountered southern prejudice because he was the son of a Union Army officer, and requested to be relieved.[106] A few months later, he assumed command of the III Corps area, based at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, which allowed MacArthur and Louise to move to her Rainbow Hill estate near Garrison, Maryland.[105] However, this relocation also led to what he later described as "one of the most distasteful orders I ever received":[107] a direction to serve on the court-martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. MacArthur was the youngest of the thirteen judges, none of whom had aviation experience. Three of them, including Summerall, the president of the court, were removed when defense challenges revealed bias against Mitchell. Despite MacArthur's claim that he had voted to acquit, Mitchell was found guilty as charged and convicted.[105] MacArthur felt "that a senior officer should not be silenced for being at variance with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine".[107]
In 1927, MacArthur and Louise separated,[108] and she moved to New York City, adopting as her residence the entire twenty-sixth floor of a Manhattan hotel.[109] In August that year, William C. Prout—the president of the American Olympic Committee—died suddenly and the committee elected MacArthur as their new president. His main task was to prepare the U.S. team for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, where the Americans were successful.[110] Upon returning to the U.S., MacArthur received orders to assume command of the Philippine Department.[110] This time, the general travelled alone.[109] On 17 June 1929, while he was in Manila, Louise obtained a divorce, ostensibly on the grounds of "failure to provide".[111] In view of Louise's great wealth, William Manchester described this legal fiction as "preposterous".[112] Both later acknowledged the real reason to be "incompatibility".[99]
Chief of Staff
By 1930, MacArthur was 50 and still the youngest and one of the best known of the U.S. Army's major generals. He left the Philippines on 19 September 1930 and for a brief time was in command of the IX Corps Area in San Francisco. On 21 November, he was sworn in as Chief of Staff of the United States Army, with the rank of general.[113] While in Washington, he would ride home each day to have lunch with his mother. At his desk, he would wear a Japanese ceremonial kimono, cool himself with an oriental fan, and smoke cigarettes in a jeweled cigarette holder. In the evenings, he liked to read military history books. About this time, he began referring to himself as "MacArthur".[114] He had already hired a public relations staff to promote his image with the American public, together with a set of ideas he was known to favor, namely: a belief that America needed a strongman leader to deal with the possibility that Communists might lead all of the great masses of unemployed into a revolution; that America's destiny was in the Asia-Pacific region; and a strong hostility to the British Empire.[115] One contemporary described MacArthur as the greatest actor to ever serve as a U.S. Army general while another wrote that MacArthur had a court rather than a staff.[116]
The onset of the Great Depression prompted Congress to make cuts in the Army's personnel and budget. Some 53 bases were closed, but MacArthur managed to prevent attempts to reduce the number of regular officers from 12,000 to 10,000.[117] MacArthur's main programs included the development of new mobilization plans. He grouped the nine corps areas together under four armies, which were charged with responsibility for training and frontier defense.[118] He also negotiated the MacArthur-Pratt agreement with the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William V. Pratt. This was the first of a series of inter-service agreements over the following decades that defined the responsibilities of the different services with respect to aviation. This agreement placed coastal air defense under the Army. In March 1935, MacArthur activated a centralized air command, General Headquarters Air Force, under General Frank M. Andrews.[119]
By rapidly promoting Andrews from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general MacArthur supported Andrews' endorsement of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber and the concept of long-range four-engine bombers. This was controversial at the time because most high-ranking Army generals and officials in the War Department supported twin-engine bombers like the Douglas B-18 Bolo heavy bomber. After MacArthur left his position as Army Chief of Staff in October 1935 his successor Malin Craig and War Secretary Harry Hines Woodring ordered a halt to research and development of the B-17 and in 1939 zero four-engine bombers were ordered by the War Department and instead hundreds of inferior B-18s and other twin-engine bombers were ordered and delivered to the Army. Andrews, thanks to MacArthur putting him in a position of power in 1935, was able to use bureaucratic loopholes to covertly order research and development of the B-17 to the point that when the Army and President Roosevelt finally endorsed four-engine bombers in 1940 B-17s were able to be immediately produced with no delays related to research and testing.[120][121]
The development of the M1 Garand rifle also happened during MacArthur's tenure as Chief of Staff. There was a debate over what caliber the M1 Garand should use. Many in the Army and Marine Corps wanted the new rifle to use the .276 Pedersen round. MacArthur personally intervened and ordered the M1 Garand to use the .30-06 Springfield round, which was what the M1903 Springfield used. This allowed the military to use the same ammunition for both the old standard service M1903 Springfield rifles and the future new standard service M1 Garand. The M1 Garand, chambered in .30-06 Springfield, was cleared for service in November 1935 and officially adopted in January 1936 as the new Army service rifle just a few months after MacArthur finished his tour of duty as Chief of Staff.[122][123]
Bonus Army
One of MacArthur's most controversial acts came in 1932, when the "Bonus Army" of veterans converged on Washington. He sent tents and camp equipment to the demonstrators, along with mobile kitchens, until an outburst in Congress caused the kitchens to be withdrawn. MacArthur was concerned that the demonstration had been taken over by communists and pacifists but the General Staff's intelligence division reported that only three of the march's 26 key leaders were communists. MacArthur went over contingency plans for civil disorder in the capital. Mechanized equipment was brought to Fort Myer, where anti-riot training was conducted.[124]
On 28 July 1932, in a clash with the District police, two veterans were shot, and later died. President Herbert Hoover ordered MacArthur to "surround the affected area and clear it without delay".[125] MacArthur brought up troops and tanks and, against the advice of Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, decided to accompany the troops, although he was not in charge of the operation. The troops advanced with bayonets and sabers drawn under a shower of bricks and rocks, but no shots were fired. In less than four hours, they cleared the Bonus Army's campground using tear gas. The gas canisters started a number of fires, causing the only death during the riots. While not as violent as other anti-riot operations, it was nevertheless a public relations disaster.[126] However, the defeat of the "Bonus Army", while unpopular with the American people at large, did make MacArthur into the hero of the more right-wing elements in the Republican Party who believed that the general had saved America from a communist revolution in 1932.[115]
In 1934, MacArthur sued journalists Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen for defamation after they described his treatment of the Bonus marchers as "unwarranted, unnecessary, insubordinate, harsh and brutal".[127] Also accused for proposing 19-gun salutes for friends, MacArthur asked for $750,000 (equivalent to $13.4 million in 2023)[128] to compensate for the damage to his reputation.[129] The journalists threatened to call Isabel Rosario Cooper as a witness. MacArthur had met Isabel, a Eurasian teenager, while in the Philippines, and she had become his mistress. MacArthur was forced to settle out of court, secretly paying Pearson $15,000[130] (equivalent to $267,000 in 2023).[128]
New Deal
In the 1932 presidential election, Herbert Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. MacArthur and Roosevelt had worked together before World War I and had remained friends despite their political differences. MacArthur supported the New Deal through the Army's operation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He ensured that detailed plans were drawn up for its employment and decentralized its administration to the corps areas, which became an important factor in the program's success.[131] MacArthur's support for a strong military, and his public criticism of pacifism and isolationism,[132] made him unpopular with the Roosevelt administration.[133]
Perhaps the most incendiary exchange between Roosevelt and MacArthur occurred over an administration proposal to cut 51% of the Army's budget. In response, MacArthur lectured Roosevelt that "when we lost the next war, and an American boy, lying in the mud with an enemy bayonet through his belly and an enemy foot on his dying throat, spat out his last curse, I wanted the name not to be MacArthur, but Roosevelt". In response, Roosevelt yelled, "you must not talk that way to the President!" MacArthur offered to resign, but Roosevelt refused his request, and MacArthur then staggered out of the White House and vomited on the front steps.[134]
In spite of such exchanges, MacArthur was extended an extra year as chief of staff, and ended his tour in October 1935.[133] For his service as chief of staff, he was awarded a second Distinguished Service Medal. He was retroactively awarded two Purple Hearts for his World War I service,[135] a decoration that he authorized in 1932 based loosely on the defunct Military Badge of Merit. MacArthur insisted on being the first recipient of the Purple Heart, which he had engraved with "#1".[136][137]
Field Marshal of the Philippine Army
When the Commonwealth of the Philippines achieved semi-independent status in 1935, President of the Philippines Manuel Quezon asked MacArthur to supervise the creation of a Philippine Army. Quezon and MacArthur had been personal friends since the latter's father had been Governor-General of the Philippines, 35 years earlier. With President Roosevelt's approval, MacArthur accepted the assignment. It was agreed that MacArthur would receive the rank of field marshal, with its salary and allowances, in addition to his major general's salary as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines.[138] This made him the best-paid soldier in the world.[139] It would be his fifth tour in the Far East. MacArthur sailed from San Francisco on the SS President Hoover in October 1935,[140] accompanied by his mother and sister-in-law. He brought Eisenhower and Major James B. Ord along as his assistants.[141] Another passenger on the President Hoover was Jean Marie Faircloth, an unmarried 37-year-old socialite. Over the next two years, MacArthur and Faircloth were frequently seen together.[142] His mother became gravely ill during the voyage and died in Manila on 3 December 1935.[143]
President Quezon officially conferred the title of field marshal on MacArthur in a ceremony at Malacañan Palace on 24 August 1936. Eisenhower recalled finding the ceremony "rather fantastic". He found it "pompous and rather ridiculous to be the field marshal of a virtually nonexisting army." Eisenhower learned later on that the field-marshalship had not been (as he had assumed) Quezon's idea. "I was surprised to learn from him that he had not initiated the idea at all; rather, Quezon said that MacArthur himself came up with the high-sounding title."[144] (A persistent myth has pervaded the biographical literature, to the effect that MacArthur wore a "specially designed sharkskin uniform" at the 1936 ceremony to go with his new rank of Philippine Field Marshal. Richard Meixsel has debunked this story; in fact the special uniform was "the creation of a poorly informed journalist in 1937 who mistook a recently introduced U.S. Army white dress uniform for a distinctive field marshal's attire.")[145]
The Philippine Army was formed from conscription. Training was conducted by a regular cadre, and the Philippine Military Academy was created along the lines of West Point to train officers.[146] MacArthur and Eisenhower found that few of the training camps had been constructed and the first group of 20,000 trainees did not report until early 1937.[147] Equipment and weapons were "more or less obsolete" American cast offs, and the budget was completely inadequate.[146] MacArthur's requests for equipment fell on deaf ears, although MacArthur and his naval adviser, Lieutenant Colonel Sidney L. Huff, persuaded the Navy to initiate the development of the PT boat.[148] Much hope was placed in the Philippine Army Air Corps, but the first squadron was not organized until 1939.[149] Article XIX of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty banned the construction of new fortifications or naval bases in all Pacific Ocean territories and colonies of the five signatories from 1923 to 1936. Also, military bases like at Clark and Corregidor were not allowed to be expanded or modernized during that 13-year period. For example, the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor was constructed from 1932 to 1934 with condemned TNT and without a single dollar from the U.S. government because of the treaty. This added to the numerous challenges facing MacArthur and Quezon.[150]
In Manila, MacArthur was a member of the Freemasons. On 28 March 1936, he became a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Freemason.[151][152][153]
MacArthur married Jean Faircloth in a civil ceremony on 30 April 1937.[154] Their marriage produced a son, Arthur MacArthur IV, who was born in Manila on 21 February 1938.[155] On 31 December 1937, MacArthur officially retired from the Army. He ceased to represent the U.S. as military adviser to the government, but remained as Quezon's adviser in a civilian capacity.[156] Eisenhower returned to the U.S., and was replaced as MacArthur's chief of staff by Lieutenant Colonel Richard K. Sutherland, while Richard J. Marshall became deputy chief of staff.[157]
World War II
Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
Defense of the Philippines
On 26 July 1941, Roosevelt federalized the Philippine Army, recalled MacArthur to active duty in the U.S. Army as a major general, and named him commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). MacArthur was promoted to lieutenant general the following day,[158] and then to general on 20 December.[159] On 31 July 1941, the Philippine Department had 22,000 troops assigned, 12,000 of whom were Philippine Scouts. The main component was the Philippine Division, under the command of Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright.[160] The initial American plan for the defense of the Philippines called for the main body of the troops to retreat to the Bataan peninsula in Manila Bay to hold out against the Japanese until a relief force could arrive.[161] MacArthur changed this plan to one of attempting to hold all of Luzon and using B-17 Flying Fortresses to sink Japanese ships that approached the islands.[162] MacArthur persuaded the decision-makers in Washington that his plans represented the best deterrent to prevent Japan from choosing war and of winning a war if worse came to worst.[162]
Between July and December 1941, the garrison received 8,500 reinforcements.[163] After years of parsimony, much equipment was shipped. By November, a backlog of 1,100,000 shipping tons of equipment intended for the Philippines had accumulated in U.S. ports and depots awaiting vessels.[164] In addition, the Navy intercept station in the islands, known as Station CAST, had an ultra-secret Purple cipher machine, which decrypted Japanese diplomatic messages, and partial codebooks for the latest JN-25 naval code. Station CAST sent MacArthur its entire output, via Sutherland, the only officer on his staff authorized to see it.[165]
At 03:30 local time on 8 December 1941 (about 09:00 on 7 December in Hawaii),[166] Sutherland learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor and informed MacArthur. At 05:30, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George Marshall, ordered MacArthur to execute the existing war plan, Rainbow Five. This plan had been leaked to the American public by the Chicago Tribune three days prior,[167] and the following day Germany had publicly ridiculed the plan.[168] MacArthur did not follow Marshall's order. On three occasions, the commander of the Far East Air Force, Major General Lewis H. Brereton, requested permission to attack Japanese bases in Formosa, in accordance with prewar intentions, but was denied by Sutherland; Brereton instead ordered his aircraft to fly defensive patrol patterns, looking for Japanese warships. Not until 11:00 did Brereton speak with MacArthur, and obtained permission to begin Rainbow Five.[169] MacArthur later denied having the conversation.[170] At 12:30, nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor,[dubious – discuss] aircraft of Japan's 11th Air Fleet achieved complete tactical surprise when they attacked Clark Field and the nearby fighter base at Iba Field, and destroyed or disabled 18 of Far East Air Force's 35 B-17s, caught on the ground refueling. Also destroyed were 53 of 107 P-40s, 3 P-35s, and more than 25 other aircraft. Substantial damage was done to the bases, and casualties totaled 80 killed and 150 wounded.[171] What was left of the Far East Air Force was all but destroyed over the next few days.[172]
MacArthur attempted to slow the Japanese advance with an initial defense against the Japanese landings. MacArthur's plan for holding all of Luzon against the Japanese collapsed, for it distributed the American-Filipino forces too thinly.[173] However, he reconsidered his overconfidence in the ability of his Filipino troops after the Japanese landing force made a rapid advance following its landing at Lingayen Gulf on 21 December,[174] and ordered a retreat to Bataan.[175] Within two days of the Japanese landing at Lingayen Gulf, MacArthur had reverted to the pre-July 1941 plan of attempting to hold only Bataan while waiting for a relief force to come.[173] However, this switching of plans came at a grueling price; most of the American and some of the Filipino troops were able to retreat back to Bataan, but without most of their supplies, which were abandoned in the confusion.[176] Manila was declared an open city at midnight on 24 December, without any consultation with Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commanding the Asiatic Fleet, forcing the Navy to destroy considerable amounts of valuable materiel.[177] The Asiatic Fleet's performance during December 1941 was poor. Although the surface fleet was obsolete and was safely evacuated to try to defend the Dutch East Indies, more than two dozen modern submarines were assigned to Manila – Hart's strongest fighting force. The submariners were confident, but they were armed with the malfunctioning Mark 14 torpedo and were unable to sink a single Japanese warship during the invasion.[178] MacArthur thought the Navy betrayed him. The submariners were ordered to abandon the Philippines by the end of December after ineffective attacks on the Japanese fleet, only returning to Corregidor to evacuate high-ranking politicians or officers for the rest of the campaign.[179]
On the evening of 24 December, MacArthur moved his headquarters to the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay arriving at 21:30, with his headquarters reporting to Washington as being open on the 25th.[180][181] A series of air raids by the Japanese destroyed all the exposed structures on the island and USAFFE headquarters was moved into the Malinta Tunnel. In the first-ever air raid on Corregidor on 29 December, Japanese airplanes bombed all the buildings on Topside including MacArthur's house and the barracks. MacArthur's family ran into the air raid shelter while MacArthur went outside to the garden of the house with some soldiers to observe and count the number of bombers involved in the raid when bombs destroyed the home. One bomb struck only ten feet from MacArthur and the soldiers shielded him with their bodies and helmets. Filipino sergeant Domingo Adversario was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for getting his hand wounded by the bomb and covering MacArthur's head with his own helmet, which was also hit by shrapnel. MacArthur was not wounded.[182] Later, most of the headquarters moved to Bataan, leaving only the nucleus with MacArthur.[183] The troops on Bataan knew that they had been written off but continued to fight. Some blamed Roosevelt and MacArthur for their predicament. A ballad sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" called him "Dugout Doug".[184] However, most clung to the belief that somehow MacArthur "would reach down and pull something out of his hat".[185]
On 1 January 1942, MacArthur accepted $500,000 (equivalent to $7.37 million in 2023)[128] from President Quezon of the Philippines as payment for his pre-war service. MacArthur's staff members also received payments: $75,000 for Sutherland, $45,000 for Richard Marshall, and $20,000 for Huff[186][187] (equivalent to $1.11 million, $664,000, and $295,000 in 2023, respectively).[128] Eisenhower—after being appointed Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF)—was also offered money by Quezon, but declined.[188] These payments were known only to a few in Manila and Washington, including President Roosevelt and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, until they were made public by historian Carol Petillo in 1979.[189][190] While the payments had been fully legal,[190] the revelation tarnished MacArthur's reputation.[190][191]
Escape from the Philippines
In February 1942, as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to relocate to Australia.[192] On the night of 12 March 1942, MacArthur and a select group that included his wife Jean, son Arthur, Arthur's Cantonese amah, Loh Chui, and other members of his staff, including Sutherland, Richard Marshall and Huff, left Corregidor. They traveled in PT boats through stormy seas patrolled by Japanese warships, and reached Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao, where B-17s picked them up, and flew them to Australia. MacArthur ultimately arrived in Melbourne by train on 21 March.[193][194] His famous declaration, "I came through and I shall return", was first made at Terowie railway station in South Australia, on 20 March.[195] Washington asked MacArthur to amend his promise to "We shall return". He ignored the request.[196]
Bataan surrendered on 9 April,[197] and Corregidor on 6 May.[198]
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