Evening star., 1951-04-11
Rapid Promotions
Marked MacArthur's S
Brilliant Career
BY the Assoeiaied Press

look back upon one of the most
distinguished military careers any
American has known. He was
the son Of 1t. Gen. Arthur Mac
Arthur. himself a PROMINENT
soldier.
Douglas Macarthur was gradu-
ated by the United States Military
Academy in 1908 at the top Of his
class and went into the engineers.
From then on, his career was one
of consistent success.
His promotions came rapidly
through the lower grades and inl
1918 he was made a Brigadier.
General commanding the 84thI
brigade of the 42d Rainbow Di-
vision.
Twice Wounded i'm Action.
In November of the same year
he was given command Of the
division. He participated in most
of the major American battles Of
World War I and was twice
wounded in action.
In 1919 he was appointed super
fntendent of West Point and Short
" after was promoted to brigadier
general in the regular Army. Later
he saw service in the Philippines,
reaching major generals rank in
1925. In 1880 he was promoted to
general and made Chief of staff.
He served until 1885, when he re-
tired and went to the Philippinesf
to organize the commonwealth S
army. l.
In 1912, Gen. Macarthur was
recalled to active duty as Supreme
Commander of Allied Forces in
the southwest Pacific. In 1914,
he was given his fifth star when
Congress created the rank of Cen
eral of the Army. In 1945 he was
made supreme allied commander
to accept the Japanese surrender.
Since then Gen. Macarthur has
been supreme commander in the
Far East and the virtual ruler of
Japan. In this capacity he has
commanded the United Nations
army in Korea.
In 1888 he married Jean Fair
cloth. Arthur Macarthur is their
only child. He is 13 years old.
President Truman cabled Gen.
Macarthur the Nations congrat-
ulations on bis conduct Of the Ko-
rean campaign. which he said was
rivaled by "few operations in
military history"
Mr.. Truman few more than
1000 miles last October to hold a
face-to-face conference with the
general on Wake Island. It was
the first time the two had met. On
that occasion Mr.. Truman pinned
on Gen. MacArthur's open-neck
shirt an Oak Leaf Cluster that
was the equivalent of the fifth
award of the Distinguished Serv- y
ice Medal. II
Doomed for President. (
A presidential boom wasI(
launched for Gen. Macarthur in e
1948 when he was put forward for
the Republican nomination. He
announced in Tokyo that he would !
accept the presidency if called by {
the American people" but would
not campaign. s
He even turned down an invi- Z
tation to testify before a Senate :
committee that would have given
him an oportunity to return to +,
the United States. His supporters /,
believed a personal visit would :
greatly enhance his chances.
In making himself available as
candidate, Gen. Macarthur said
he did not actively seek or covet
any office" and had no plans for
leaving his post in Japan. He d
added, however, that II would be
recreant to all my concepts of
good citizenship were to shrink [
because of the hazards and re- a
sponsibilities involved from ac- f
cepting any public duty to which :,
might be called by the American
people" p
II Votes in Convention. +
At the Republican National v
Convention, Gen. Macarthur re- s
ceived II votes on the first ballot :,
for the nomination and seven on
the second. Gov. Thomas E. Dewey
of New York was unanimously t.
nominated on the third. Gen. Ii
Macarthur called Dewey "a splen- >.
did choice"
Because of the critical situation
In the Far East, he declined sew II
eral congressional invitations to II
return home later for personal n
reports on developments. Il
While expressing appreciation e
for the bids, he said that during r.
this moment of critical events in "
the Far East, the interests of the q
American people are better served
by my remaining at my post t.
here" r
He has not been back in the n
United States since the spring of o
1897. n
Won Respect of Japanese.
Gen. Macarthur quickly won
the respect of the japanese people. S
The Japanese-owned English h
language newspaper Nippon S
Times said that the japanese con- "
sidered him "the greatest Amer +
lean it has been their privilege to v
know"
He kept a tight rein on COM t
munism, which he aSsailed as "na- 4
tional and international out r
lawry," and because the target of a
Russian shafts. On the fourth S
anniversary of the japanese sur +
render ceremony, he observed that S
communism no longer was a major e
threat in Japan-"it fell victim S
to its own excesses."
To-day, Japan might indeed be a
viewed as a symbol of hope for i
less fortunate peoples overwhelmed j
by the despotic rule of coercive IL
force" he said at that time. :"
Took Bold Chances. 4
AS he did during World War II, Ic