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 20th, 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 3rd 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 23rd 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 1st Battalion of the 15th 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 8th
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 15th, 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 6th 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 23rd
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 5th
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.
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