Historical Series: Military as President, Part 5: MacArthur and Eisenhower 1948: The Booms and The First Political Stirrings

 

 

After becoming the Republican nominee for President in June of 1944 the 42 year old Thomas Dewey said in his acceptance speech that FDR’s administration, then in power for twelve years was full of ‘tired old men’. This was a remark that cut closer to the bone of FDR than even Dewey was aware; it was known to almost the entire Democratic Party and unofficial Washington that FDR was seriously ill and almost certainly would not survive another term. Indeed he didn’t attend the Democratic National Convention the following month and gave his acceptance speech by radio the first time he had not attended a Democratic convention in any form since he had been a delegate for Wilson in 1912.

But the Democrats were determined to cover that fact. On July 20^th, Robert Kerr, an Oklahoma senator gave the keynote address where he threw the charge back in Dewey’s face. At the height of his speech Kerr said:

“Shall we discard as a ‘tired old man’ 59 year old Admiral Nimitz…62 year old Admiral Halsey…64 year old General Douglas MacArthur…66 year old Admiral King (chief of the Navy)…64 year old General George C. Marshall…No, Mr. Dewey, we know we are winning this war with these ‘tired old men’, including the 62 year old Roosevelt as their Commander-in-Chief.”

He left out 54 year old General Eisenhower, who was just one month removed from D-Day. Presumably Eisenhower was not old enough to be tired yet.

The speech roused the throng and took whatever comparison of FDR’s age was – at least for the moment – by comparing him to the men who had over the last two years were known as the greatest heroes of the American war effort.

Indeed a movement by the Republican Party had been made during the spring to draft Douglas MacArthur for President. He had refused to leave his post in the Philippines. But Douglas MacArthur was far from a man without ambition for politics. At the convention that nominated Dewey for President, only one Republican delegate refused to join the motion to make the nomination unanimous. He voted for MacArthur because he said, ‘I’m a man, not a jellyfish.”

MacArthur had been born on January 26 1880 at Little Rock Barracks in Arkansas. He was second generation military and his father Arthur had won the Medal of Honor for his actions at Missionary Ridge which has earned him the promotion to Lieutenant general. He was also a distant relation of Commodore Matthew Perry, who famously ‘opened’ Japan to America in 1853.

MacArthur and his two older brothers would live on a succession of Army posts in the West. The conditions were primitive and his brother Malcolm died of the measles at age five. In July 1889, his family moved to DC and four years later MacArthur began attending the West Texas Military Academy. He was a superb athlete and was named valedictorian. Despite the efforts of his father and grandfather, he was denied a Presidential appointment to West Point. He would later pass the examination on his own and enter the academy in June of 1899. He graduate first in his 93 man class in June of 1903 with what was the third-highest score ever recorded. As a result, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Corp of Engineers.

That October he was assigned to the 3^rd Engineer Battalion which departed to the Philippines. Within two years he was inspecting bases in Japan. Already he was getting a reputation. A man who knew the family said: “Arthur MacArthur was the most flamboyantly egotistical man I had ever seen, until I met his son.”

After spending nearly a decade stateside in April of 1914 President Wilson ordered the occupation of Veracruz. MacArthur joined the staff and when he arrived realized they need. On his way back to acquire a handcar, armed men set upon his party three times.. The first time, MacArthur shot two men, the second time he took three bullets in his clothes but was unharmed, shooting four men. The third time he was shot at again, and MacArthur returned fire. A fellow officer requested Major General Leonard Wood that MacArthur put forward for the medal of honor. He was considered but because he had ignored the orders of his commander he received no award.

He returned to the War Department and was promoted to Major, then assigned head of the Bureau of Information under Secretary of War Newton Baker, giving him the unofficial title of first press officer. When America declared war on Germany Baker and MacArthur secured an agreement from Wilson for use of the National Guard on the Western front. McArthur suggested sending a division organized from units of states, discouraging favoritism. Baker approved the formation of what would be called the ‘Rainbow’ of which McCarthur became Chief of Staff being named Colonel. Trained to deal with open-field combat rather than trench warfare it sailed for the Western Front that October. In February of 1918 MacArthur would accompany a French trench raid and assisted in the capture of German prisoners. MacArthur became the first American recipient of the Croix De Guerre and later received the Silver Star. In June he would receive his first star and become brigadier general. At 38, he was then the youngest general in the AEF. He won three more Silver Stars in the Champagne-Marne Offensive, a second Croix De Guerre and was named a commander in the Legion of Honor. By the end of the war, he would have received seven Silver stars altogether, two Distinguished Service Crosses and later the Army Distinguished Service Medal.

After the Armistice MacArthur became Superintendent of West Point. By the end of the war, morale was low and hazing vicious. MacArthur sought to modernize the academic system, formalized the code of honor and attempted to end hazing. He modernized the curriculum, adding liberal arts, government and economic courses and expanded the sports program. The professors and alumni protested these radical moves and would soon discard them, but overtime they became more accepted and were slowly restored.

In October of 1922, after marrying socialite Louise Brooks MacArthur was transferred to the Philippines, assuming command of the 23^rd Infantry brigade. He was friend with many of the Filipinos in the region, including Manuel Quezon which offended many. “The old idea of colonial exploitation…still had vigorous supporters. He repeatedly made efforts to improve the salaries of Filipino troops but his efforts were frustrated due to lack of money and prejudice. In January of 1925, he was promoted and became the Army’s youngest major general.

Returning stateside, he was forced to serve on the court-martial of Billy Mitchell, a pioneer in the American Air force who had been charged with insubordination after accusing leaders of the Army and Navy of their ‘treasonable administration of national defense.” MacArthur later claimed he had voted to acquit, but Mitchell was found guilty as charged and convicted. The experience never left MacArthur, who felt a senior officer ‘should not be silenced for being at variance with his superiors in rank and doctrine.”

By 1930 MacArthur was sworn in as Chief of Staff of the Army and while he was famous, his reputation was becoming uncomplimentary – and political. His belief was “America needed a strongman leader to deal with the possibility that Communists might lead all the masses of unemployed into a revolution, that Americans destiny was in the Pacific and a strong hostility towards the British empire.”

The most controversial act came in 1932 when the Bonus Army of veterans descended on DC demanded their money. While he first sent tents and equipment to the demonstrators, his belief that the demonstration was taken over by Communists led him to begin anti-riot training. On July 28, in a clash with police, two veterans were shot and later died. Under orders from President Hoover, he brought up troops and tanks and decided to accompany the troops. The grounds were cleared with tear gas which started fires. The defeat was a PR disaster but made MacArthur a hero with the right-wing elements of the GOP who believed the general had saved America from a Communist revolution.

After Hoover was defeated MacArthur remained chief of staff. FDR and MacArthur had worked together during the first World War and were friends despite being on opposing political parties.  He supported the New Deal but got into fights with FDR about cutting the Army’s budget by half. Despite that he ended his tour in October of 1935 with the retroactive award of two Purple Hearts which he had authorized in 1932.

MacArthur returned to the Philippines in 1935 and now President Quezon asked MacArthur to help supervise the creation of a Philippine Army. FDR’s approved the assignment and was confirmed as field marshal, a title that had been MacArthur’s idea.

Despite his best efforts, there was little money and organization. He received obsolete equipment and requests from America fell on deaf ears. On December 31 1937, at the age of 57, MacArthur officially retired from the Army but remained as Quezon’s adviser in the Philippines.

Four years later with America’s entry in World War II very near FDR federalized the Philippine Army, recalled MacArthur to active duty and named him commander of U.S forces in the Far East. The rest, as they say, is military history.

Because much of America’s efforts during the first half of World War II was in the Pacific and because of MacArthur’s personality and heroics by 1944 he had become one of the most famous men in the world. But by the time of the Democratic convention the Eastern front had opened mainly at the center of a man who had served as MacArthur’s chief aide for several years but whose path to military prominence couldn’t have been more different.

Dwight David Eisenhower was born In Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890, the third of seven sons. All of the sons were nicknamed Ike but Eisenhower was the only one to keep it until adulthood.

His mother was against war but her collection of history books first sparked his interest in military history. He attended high school in Abilene but after graduated lacked the funds to attend college. When his friend Swede Hazlett applied to the Naval Academy he urged Eisenhower to apply. Though he won the entrance exam competition he was beyond the age to enter Annapolis and in 1911 accepted an appointment at West Point.

Unlike MacArthur, his performance was average and his school disciplinary record was less then stellar. A superb athlete he later said not making the baseball team at West point was one of the greatest disappointments of his life. He made the varsity football team and was a starter at halfback. He suffered repeated injuries in football, horseback and boxing.

He graduated in the middle of the class of 1915, known as ‘the class the stars fell on’ because 59 members became general officers. He became a second lieutenant and was stationed at Texas where he would meet Mamie Doud who he married within weeks of meeting her. He served win logistics and the infantry at various camps in Texas. When America entered World War I he immediately requested an overseas assignment. He was denied and assigned to Fort Leavenworth. In February of 1918, he was transferred to Camp Meade. His unit was ordered to France but he never saw combat.

After the war he reverted to his regular rank of captain and was promoted to major. Trained on the expertise in the new field of tank warfare, he began to focus on that in the role of the next war. From 1920 on he served under a succession of talented generals. He would serve under Fox Conner in what was then known as the Panama Canal Zone from 1920 to 1924. On Conner’s recommendation, he attended the Command and General Staff College at Forth Leavenworth Kansas where he graduated first in a class of 245 officers.

His career stalled during the next decade with the lack of priorities of the military. He would be assigned under General Pershing to the American Battle Monuments Commission and would help produce a guide to American battlefields in Europe with his brother Milton. After an assignment in France, he served as executive officer to General George Moseley, Hoover’s Assistant Secretary. Eventually he became MacArthur’s chief military aide and advised MacArthur against his public role in his actions against the Bonus Army. Nevertheless, he wrote the official incident report which supported MacArthur.

He went with MacArthur to the Philippines. The two men had strong philosophical agreements with MacArthur about both the role of the Philippine Army and the leadership qualities an American army officer should exhibit and develop his subordinates. This disagreement led to an antipathy between the two that would last the rest of their lives.

In 1939 Eisenhower returned to the United States and was assigned commanding officer of the 1^st Battalion of the 15^th Infantry regiment in Fort Lewis. In 1941 he rose quickly through the ranks, earning his first star in October of 1941. After Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to the General Staff in Washington where he served until June of 1942. He moved up the ranks quickly thanks to Staff General George Marshall. On June 23, he traveled to London to take over the European Theater of Operations being promoted to lieutenant general soon after.

In November he was appointed Supreme Commander of the North African Theater of Operations. The head of Operation Torch, Eisenhower was forced to deal with multiple conflicts in France. His support of Francois Darlan in North Africa – a man with connections to Vichy stunned Allied. After Darlan was assassinated, he named Henri Giraud the new High Commissioner. In February of 1943 his authority was extended to include the British Eighth army, commanded by Lord Montgomery who never liked Eisenhower and degraded his abilities in his memoirs.

After the capitulation of the Axis in North Africa, Eisenhower oversaw the invasion of Sicily. After the fall of Mussolini, the Allies switched their attention to the mainland in Operation Avalanche. In December of 1943 FDR made Eisenhower – not Marshall – Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Not only was Eisenhower tasked with planning the Invasion of Normandy he had to learn the level of political maneuvering. He argued with FDR about an agreement with De Gaulle for the use of French Resistance in covert ops against Germany. He fought with Admiral King when he refused to provided landing craft for the Pacific. He insisted the British give him exclusive command over all strategic air forces to facilitate overlord and when Churchill initially balked, he threatened to resign if he didn’t relented. And he had to skillfully manage in order to retain the services of George Patton reprimanding him with his behavior towards subordinates and inappropriate speeches about post-war policy.

All of it would begin to pay of on June 6, 1944. It took nearly a year to win the war in Europe but Eisenhower, ever mindful of loss of life and the suffering, made a point of visiting every division under his command involved in the invasion. In December of 1944 he was promoted to General of the Army. Even though he had never seen action, he demonstrated his gift for leadership and diplomacy.

Eisenhower’s personality was the polar opposite of MacArthur’s: humble, mindful of duty, absent of theatrics. By the end of the war both he and MacArthur were the greatest heroes. MacArthur would be entrusted as military governor of Occupied Japan, Eisenhower of Occupied Germany.

By that point, of course, FDR had passed away and Harry Truman was President of the United States. During the Potsdam conference he would visit occupied Germany and would meet with Eisenhower and Omar Bradley for the first time.

Riding back after the American flag was ceremonially raised over Berlin Truman was in a generous mood. He turned to Eisenhower and said: “General, there is nothing you may want that I won’t try to help you get. That definitely and specifically includes the Presidency in 1948.”

Eisenhower, according to Bradley, looked flabbergasted. “Mr. President,” he replied. “I don’t know who will be your opponent for the Presidency but it will not be I.”

There is no evidence to argue that Eisenhower was interested in politics; indeed, no one knew of his political affiliation at the time. That didn’t mean there hadn’t been interest in Eisenhower becoming President. As early as 1943 both the DNC and the RNC had sought him out as a candidate. In both case Eisenhower as politely as possible, short-circuited the talk.

Truman himself did nothing to discourage it. He had considered stepping down in 1948 and as late as the summer of 1947, with his electoral prospects growing dimmer by the day he on multiple occasions offered to let Eisenhower run as the Democratic nominee and he would serve as Vice President. Truman denied it to his dying day but his diary and multiple witnesses – including his speechwriter Sam Rosenman and his Army Secretary Kenneth Royall – acknowledge that he made them.

Eisenhower spent all of 1947 essentially denying any interest, despite the fact both Democrats and Republicans very much wanted him. Eisenhower remained chief of staff of the Army until 1947 when he left the service to become President of Columbia University. Privately he acknowledged that he wanted “some shelter from the constant political darts that are launched by well-meaning, but I fear misguided friends.”

Eisenhower spent 1947  in resistance. Douglas MacArthur, still in Japan, didn’t – or at least was more willing to let people advocate for him. A March 1947 poll revealed him to be the most popular man in America (ahead even of Eisenhower) and by March of 1948 press lord William Randolph Hearst, afraid of rising tension with Russia,, ordered his newspapers to launch a draft.

Two days later, supporters for him in Wisconsin filed petitions for him to compete in their state’s primary, one of only five real primaries active in 1948. The following day three New England Democrats, among them former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley endorsed MacArthur for the Democratic nomination. On March 5h campaign offices opened In Washington.

All of this was done while MacArthur had made it very clear in January he had no intention of leaving Tokyo until Japan’s reconstruction were complete. However on March 8^th when Truman himself announced his own candidacy for election in his own right, MacArthur gave a statement in which he would acknowledge his openness for a draft. (Forgotten in today’s politics a draft occurs when a political candidate who didn’t announce for the nomination was picked at the party’s convention.)

Almost immediately MacArthur loomed as a serious rival for the GOP nomination. On March 15^th, he polled at 12 percent in a Gallup poll, within striking distance of long declared contenders Harold Stassen, Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg. Within two weeks he had moved to 19 percent and only trailed Thomas Dewey.” Furthermore MacArthur lived in Wisconsin when he was stateside and his grandfather had been its governor for five days in the pre-Civil War era. The primary on April 6^th loomed large for him.

The Wisconsin GOP was racked by in-fighting. The old guard, let by the once powerful La Follette family and primarily isolationist, backed MacArthur. The new guard led by Joseph McCarthy, who had defeated La Follette in a Senate primary two years earlier, had spent the previous two years campaigning for Stassen. With MacArthur largely absent and Dewey barely present, Stassen narrowly beat McArthur with 39 percent to MacArthur’s 34 percent. Stassen took 19 delegates MacArthur took only 8. They would be the only delegates MacArthur took in the primaries. Though his shadow campaign continued, he never received more than 8 percent in another primary.

MacArthur was nominated at the GOP Convention in June but he would peak at 11 delegates on the first ballot. The convention nominated Thomas Dewey on the third ballot.

Eisenhower’s position was more complicated and ended up being a factor right up until the Democratic convention in July.

In August of 1947 Dewey shared the stage with Eisenhower which worried him about his own prospects for the White House. In October there were rumors Henry Wallace – in the midst of his run as the Progressive Party nominee – had made an attempt to persuade him to challenge Truman. In December Eisenhower made his first steps into the political limelight when he attended a dinner in DC where several prominent GOP bosses were present. He began to talk of current events and his remarks – including a statement on how to resolve domestic inflation – were leaked to a broadcaster for the Mutual Broadcasting system and many thought his comments were political suicide. While he admitted that was a mistake Eisenhower seemed unable to either flatly deny his interest in the Presidency.

By January ‘Draft Eisenhower’ clubs sprang up from coast to coast. A New York advertising agency developed buttons that read ‘I Like Ike’. That month Eisenhower reluctantly realized he had to make a statement. He sequestered himself in his home for three days drafting it, sharing it with James Forrestal.

On January 23^rd he released it. The statement said in part:

“I am not available and could not accept nomination to high political office…My decision to remove myself completely from the political scene is definite and positive and I could not accept nomination even under the remote circumstances that it were tendered me…”

Days later Walter Winchell appealed to his broadcasters to bombard Eisenhower with postcards indicated whether they wanted him to run. By June 12 million responses reached Winchell, overwhelmingly urging Eisenhower’s candidacy.

The Republicans, however, chose to take him at his word. The Democrats, who thought Truman was headed for an electoral defeat, were not willing to take no for an answer.

In March, two of FDR’s son: Franklin Jr and Elliott each offered separate statements supporting his nomination. When Forrestal heard of it, he contacted FDR, Jr and urged him to desist. FDR junior ignored him.

The liberal wing of the Democratic party, mostly in the North began to move. The Liberal Party in New York chose to endorse Eisenhower despite another disclaimed.

In April the seventy person Americans for Democratic Action met in Pittsburgh and endorsed and Eisenhower-William O. Douglas ticket. James Loeb, one of their members believed sincerely Eisenhower would have agreed to run had the Republicans been seriously considering the isolationist Robert Taft as their Presidential nominee. But by this point the major contenders for the nomination were the international wing of the party led by Stassen, Dewey and Arthur Vandenburg.

Regardless of this, the party elders as well as other prominent Democrats were essentially telling Truman to not run for reelection and allow Eisenhower to run in his place. Chicago boss Jake Arvey praised Eisenhower as ‘the kind of liberal with whom we could win.” And it wasn’t only the northerners who thought highly of Ike. Alabama’s two relatively liberal Senators John Sparkman and Lister Hill (neither of whom joined the Dixiecrat revolt), openly endorsed Eisenhower in the name of Democratic unity. Other southerners chimed in – with caveats. Richard Russell said he would be happy to see Truman step aside for Eisenhower…unless “Eisenhower would support the Truman civil rights program.”

The biggest problem facing Truman was the Roosevelt clan. None of the Roosevelt children were FDR but the name still had sway within the Democratic Party and his sons kept pushing for Ike. Eventually James, the state Democratic  chairman of California,  delivered a notably pro-Eisenhower speech at the Jackson Day Dinner in Los Angeles.

On June 14 on his whistlestop tour Truman addressed the Los Angeles Press club. James was waiting in his Presidential suite. When he extended his hand to Truman, the President took him aside. “Your father asked me to take this job,” he told him. “I didn’t want it. I was happy in the Senate. But your father asked me to take it and I took it. And if your father knew what you are doing to me, he would turn over in his grave. But get this straight: whether you like it or not, I am going to be the next President of the United States.”

None of this did much to changes James’ opinion. Interviewed by the newsmen he said the California delegation would be committed for Truman on the first ballot. He said nothing if there were to be a second.

After the Republican ticket nominated Tom Dewey for President, the Democrats were convinced electoral defeat IN November was certain. They kept pushing for Eisenhower no matter how many times he refused. On the eve of the Democratic convention James Roosevelt and Florida Congressman Claude Pepper sent telegraphs to all of the Democratic delegates essentially signaling a draft Eisenhower effort.

They spearheaded a diverse, ideologically incoherent coalition which included among its members. To give the most obvious example Strom Thurmond and Hubert Humphrey, who were at complete loggerheads on anything political issue, were both prominent in the attempt. Chester Bowles, running for governor in Connecticut, would visit Eisenhower ‘admitting that no one knew his political views.” He came away after a 2 hour discussion convinced Eisenhower:

“…wanted to become President, this desire was qualified by his reluctance to participate in the turmoil of political life, his ideas on domestic policy were almost wholly unformed and that he was incredibly naïve politically.”

On that last part Bowles was completely wrong. He wrote in his diary the difference between the Republican and Democratic boom:

“All Republicans thought they’d win easily. So, no ‘leaders’ wanted or bothered me. All the ‘Republican pressure on me was truly from the grass roots because the bosses wanted the top man to be someone they could control. The Democratic pressures came from the bosses, all except Harry Truman and his personal crowd. They were desperate and I was a possible port in a storm.”

Eisenhower’s perception was dead on. The movement was primarily coming from the liberal and progressive wing of the Party who were trying to dump Truman for a winner. The rest of the party was solidly behind Truman – something the liberal wing was not willing to accept.

On July 5^th Eisenhower uttered yet another denial but his use of the phrase ‘at this time’ did nothing to quell. The next day Pepper and James Roosevelt even proposed junking the label of Democrats altogether when they urged him to run as ‘a national candidate’

Truman’s forces responded by having the convention galleries flooded with police to stifle any pro-Eisenhower demonstration. Royall would phone Eisenhower and secure his consent for a more definite refusal. He and speechwriter Clark Clifford drafted a statement which read in part:

“Under no conditions will I be in the position of repudiating or even seeming to swerve from the letter or spirit of my prior announcements…No matter what the terms, conditions or premises a proposal might be couched, I would refuse to accept the nominations.

The pro Eisenhower bloc kept trying to come up with increasingly desperate alternatives first William O. Douglas and then even Claude Pepper.

At the Democratic convention the Texas delegation posted a mock-Ike induction notice on its bulletin board that read: “Order for induction. We couldn’t refuse the draft. You can’t refuse ours.”

Ike did.

Even as the convention girded itself for what they were all certain would be a sweeping Democratic defeat, a former Amy mess sergeant named Monty Snyder pinned an Eisenhower for President button on Ike’s friend George Allen’s jacket. Allen waited for Synder to leave before he stuffed it in his pocket.

“Four years from now, you’ll see a lot of these buttons at the convention,” he promised. “I’ll save it for that day.” Allen was right about four years later but wrong about which convention.

In the conclusion of this article I will deal with the fight for the 1952 Republican nomination and how both MacArthur and Eisenhower were more willing fighters for this one.