Evening star., 1951-04-19


vitality, that comes from within
Also he looks amazingly young
His hands-sensitive, slim hands
those of an artist or surgeon
look somewhat frail, and they
tremble slightly. but the appear
ance as whole II am not exag-
gerating) is that of man of so
not II; moreover. a man OF SO in
the very best physical condition
and at the top of his form.
I asked 1t. Col. c. c. Canada,
his personal physician. if Gen.
This s the eleventh in series from John
Gunther's new book, The Riddle Of
Macarthur" e ~ :
Macarthur was a good" patient.
Answer: IT don't know. He's never
sick" And in plain fact he has
not lost day on accomtgof i'll
ness for almost 80 years. n
This is the more remarkable in
that he worked so hard. But he
has established a peculiar routine
which gave him plenty Of time to
relax. He got up rather late, had
q leisurely breakfast. did some
(but not much) paper work, and
then went to the Dai-Ichi at about
II in the morning, sometimes
later. He worked till las or 2,
and then returned to the Embassy
for lunch. After lunch, every day
of the year if possible, he took a
nap, a good nap, for an hour or
so, as Winston Churchill does.
Then he returned to the Dai-Ich1
at about 5 or $50, and worked till
evenings or later. Dinner was
when he got home, invariably with
Mrs. Macarthur alone. There
were no social distractions OF any
kind. The general never paid
calls, went to parties, saw any out
siders socially, or entertained ex-
cept at lunch. He usually saw a,
movie at the Embassy in the eve.
ming, or part of one, and was IN
bed by midnight.
Is Temperate in Habits.
Gen. Macarthur himself attrib-
utes his superb physical condition
to three things. First. the daily
nap. Second, his abstemlousness.
He eats very little. and has not
had a drink Except rarely on
ceremonial occasions) since he was
called back to active service IN
1941. He smokes in moderation;
his corncob pipes are well known.
Third. he has the wonderful ad-
vantage-like Roosevelt-of being
able to fall asleep almost Instant
lv. He never worries about, a prop
lem once the days work is done.
He takes no exercise whatever,
which some people think is odd.
But. talking to'people in his once.
he paced a great deal; his frlends
saw in fact, that he covered three
or four miles day pacing, though
this can hardly be true.
A distinguished American artlst
who painted his portrait recently
said. "Of course Macarthur has
never known what to do with ms
hands. 1t is impossible to paint
his hands because they are never
still. That is why he usually STANDS
with his hands behind his back, or
otherwise contrives to hide them.
Never Took Day Off.
His routine may seem to have
been comparatively easy, but on
the other hand he never had a
day off. mean this literally. He
worked Sundays He worked Easter.
He worked New Years Day. He
worked Christmas. He did not
have a single day away from work
since he took over in Japan, and
certainly none since the Korean
war. This was hard on his staff.
In fact it was murderous. heard
on one occasion an American Of
ficer superior in rank to Gen. Mac
Arthur say that he thought this
was too much to ask of anybody.
Nobody on Gen MacArthur's i'm
mediate staff could possibly, have
any social life, because the general
was apt to demand. their presence
at any time. Someone once
brought up to Gen. Macarthur
himself the fact that he worked
his men too hard, that he was
killing" them. The Supreme
Commander snapped in reply.
what better fate for man than
to die in performance of his1duty2"
Not everybody knows that the
general liked to start work late
In the morning. When Louis
johnson visited Tokyo before the
Korean war he telegraphed from
Guam suggesting that they meet
for their first conference at 8:45
am. the next day. Nobody had
ever told me-" complained Mr.
johnson later, that Macarthur
didn't get up that early" But the
general was on hand at the mo-
ment designated.
To return to our lunch. Actual
quotations from the generals talk
are, of course. not permissible,
though there is no harm in giving
a rough impression of what he
said. What struck me most was
his lightness, humor and give
and-take. The nlystiQue of the
great commander SO surrounds
Gen. Macarthur that one is apt
to forget how human he is. I
expected him to be oracular, vol
canic and unceasing. He was all
that, but something else. too; he
laughed a good deal, enjoyed jokes,
told some pretty good ones, per-
mitted interruptions and listened
well. This is not to say that his
talk was fluff. It was not. He