The MacArthur Candidacy

In the free-spoken, never-adjourned town meeting which the vast American democracy tries to resemble, one subject that had long been on people's minds had never, until last week, been put squarely on the agenda. That was the Presidential candidacy of General Douglas MacArthur.

For a year and more the polls had shown MacArthur to be a likely contender. There could be no doubt that hundreds of thousands of plain people (without much ideology) thought highly of him. But still the figurative chairman of the ail-American town meeting never let him become the topic of free and frank discussion. There was, of course, good reason: most of all, the fact that the General himself was working away at his fighting job.

In the absence of free discussion much side-alley talk ensued. The lunatic fringe of the Left tried to identify him with fascism--an effort in which they were aided by characters on the lunatic Right such as Gerald Smith who spoke in his favor. And there arose the unseemly sport of "smearing" MacArthur. But generally, despite an occasional serious utterance such as the open advocacy of Senator Arthur Vandenberg, most of the press and radio kept dead-pan to the attitude that MacArthur-for-President was not a proper subject for discussion.

Last week all that was suddenly changed. Hot on his showing in the Wisconsin primary, where he ran second to New York's Governor Dewey and picked up three delegates, General MacArthur swamped a political unknown in Illinois's preferential primary. Illinois's 59 delegates will not be pledged to him; but the 500,000 votes he piled up were an impressive indication of strength.

Then came the big news. A Republican freshman, Congressman Albert Lewis Miller of Kimball, Neb., suddenly remembered that he had in his pocket a couple of letters from General MacArthur--and released them to the press. Miller, once an able, prosperous physician, owned a hospital in Kimball until 1934, when he lost both his legs in a hunting accident. He traveled every country in the world but three (Turkey, Afghanistan, Greece), and then took up politics. But politics is no easy science; Dr. Miller did not seem aware of what he had now done. He had met the General twice--once in Nebraska and once in Europe.

The Correspondence.

"Dear General:

"There is a tremendous groundswell in this country against the New Deal. They have crucified themselves on the cross of too many unnecessary rules and regulations. . . .

"You should permit the people of the country to draft you for President. . . . I am convinced you will carry every state in the Union. . . . Let your friends in this country nail to the cross the many vicious propaganda, underhanded moves which will be started to smear and destroy you.

"The New Deal, including President Roosevelt, is scared to death of the movement in this country for you. ... I am certain that unless this New Deal can be stopped this time our American way of life is forever doomed. You owe it to civilization and the children yet unborn to accept the nomination. . . . You will be our next President."

General MacArthur replied, evidently much struck by the Congressman's grasp of everything:

"Dear Congressman Miller:

"I do not anticipate in any way your flattering predictions, but I do unreservedly agree with the complete wisdom and statesmanship of your comments.

"I knew your state well in the days of used-to-be. I have enjoyed many a delightful hunting excursion there and shall always remember with so much gratefulness the wholehearted hospitality and warm comradeship extended to me on such occasions. Those days seem singularly carefree and happy compared to the sinister drama of our present chaos and confusion."

"Scholarly Letter." Flattered and warmed, Congressman Miller wrote the General again on Jan. 27, denouncing the New Deal even more roughly :

"I want to tell you there is a tremendous revolution on in this country. ... It is a mass movement by the citizens who are displeased with the many mistakes now being made by the Administration. They are also convinced that the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and since Pearl Harbor in the allocation of war supplies are not above critical examination. . . .

"If this system of left-wingers and New Dealism is continued another four years, I am certain that this monarchy which is being established in America will destroy the rights of the common people."

General MacArthur again replied eloquently in an appreciative manner :

"I appreciate very much your scholarly letter. Your description of conditions in the United States is a sobering one indeed and is calculated to arouse the thoughtful consideration of every true patriot.

"We must not inadvertently slip into the same condition internally as the one which we fight externally. Like Abraham Lincoln, I am a firm believer in the people, and, if given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring before them the real facts.

"Out here we are doing what we can with what we have. I will be glad, however, when more substantial forces are placed at my disposition. . . ."

Available. The letters made hubbub. But at first, Republicans were mainly confused. Was the most popular U.S. General of World War II willing to risk infringing Army propriety in order to make his views clear?

Then, this week General MacArthur emphatically explained. The letters had never been intended for publication--the second had plainly been marked "Personal" in the General's handwriting.

Said General MacArthur: "Perusal of the letters will show any fair-minded person that they were neither politically inspired nor intended to convey blanket approval of the Congressman's views." He added: "I entirely repudiate the sinister interpretation that they were intended as criticism of any political philosophy or of any personages in high office."

As to the Presidency, General MacArthur said: "I can only say, as I have said before, I have not sought the office, nor do I seek it."

Nebraska's Senator Wherry summed up the general view of politicians: "He isn't a candidate, but he is receptive. If drafted for the nomination, he would accept."

The General's Views. One question on which the Miller letters threw no light was whether General MacArthur is an isolationist. This question was of serious concern since much of his support has come from such extreme isolationists as Colonel Robert R. McCormick./- Then last week Manhattan Lawyer Henry Breckenridge, onetime Democrat and onetime close friend of Charles A. Lindbergh, shed light on this issue. In a letter to the Herald Tribune, he quoted a telegram General MacArthur sent from Manila in 1940 to William Allen White's Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies. Said General MacArthur, at the height of the interventionist -isolationist debate: "You have asked my military opinion as to whether the time has come for America to give continued and further aid to England in the fight for civilization. The history of failure in war can almost be summed up in two words, 'too late'. . . . The greatest strategical mistake in all history will be made if America fails to recognize the vital moment. Such coordinated help as may be regarded proper by our leaders should be synchronized with the British effort so that the English-speaking peoples of the world will not be broken in detail. The vulnerability of singleness will disappear before unity of effort."

Aside from his current place in political discussion, General MacArthur's military record now stands as one of the best, and perhaps the longest, in U.S. General Staff history. He was first in his class at West Point (1903). With his father, Lieut. General Arthur MacArthur, he was an observer in the Russo-Japanese War. In World War I he organized the famed Rainbow Division, became the youngest (38) division commander in France. In 1919, at 39, he was the youngest Superintendent of West Point in history.

Herbert Hoover made him Chief of Staff in 1930; Franklin Roosevelt kept him on for an extra year--the first Chief of Staff to serve more than the usual four-year tour of duty. In 1935, Manuel Quezon invited him to reorganize the Philippine Army; in 1941, after retirement from the U.S. Army, he was recalled to head American-Filipino forces in the Far East. He commanded the forces on Bataan until ordered to Australia. Lukewarm toward air power before War II, he changed his mind quick to work hand in glove with his air chief, Lieut. General George C. Kenney, one of the most brilliant developers of air warfare (TIME, Jan. 18, 1943). And some of his campaigns in the South Pacific, a series of victories won with small forces and low casualties, are already regarded as tactical masterpieces.

/- In the March 26 Sunday Chicago Tribune appeared a new photograph of General MacArthur inscribed: "To Colonel McCormick, with the admiration and deep regard of his old comrade-in-arms, Douglas MacArthur."

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