GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 02/01/1961 - HFSID 16610

DOUGLAS MacARTHUR.
MacArthur sends a letter thanking a friend for sending birthday wishes.
Typed Letter Signed: "Douglas MacArthur", 1 page, 8x10. New York, 1961 February 1. To silent screen star Corinne Griffith, Beverly Hills, California. In full: "How very fine of you to remember my birthday. Your words brought real warmth and meaning to the day. My memories of the past have no more vivid and refreshing recollections than those involving you. So your message helped round out a very happy birthday. With thanks and appreciation." Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) graduated #1 in his class at West Point (1903) and rose to brigadier general as a combat leader in France during World War I. He was named US Army Chief of Staff in 1930, and lost popularity by forcibly expelling the Depression era Bonus Army from Washington (1932). Through most of the 1930s, he was chief military advisor to the Philippines, a US protectorate preparing for independence. He commanded U.S. Army forces in the Far East (1941-1942), becoming Allied Supreme Commander in the Southwest Pacific in 1942. In December 1944, he was promoted to 5-star General of the Army. General MacArthur later accepted the surrender of Japan aboard the battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945. As Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in charge of the Occupation of Japan, MacArthur presided over a sweeping and largely successful transformation of Japan, including a new, democratic constitution. Supreme Commander of United Nations forces in Korea (1950-1951), he was dismissed by President Harry S Truman in April 1951, for his continued public statements advocating extension of the war to Communist China. He supported Republican Dwight Eisenhower's successful Presidential candidacy in 1952, but had little influence on the new President, who negotiated peace in Korea instead of following MacArthur's recommendation to expand the war. After leaving the Army, MacArthur gave two well remembered speeches: his farewell address to the US Congress (1951) and a final speech at West Point (1962). Slightly shaded from prior framing. Fine condition.