Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 26 January 1880; graduated
from the United States Military Academy, 1903; was commissioned a second lieutenant of
engineers and served in the Philippines, 1903–1904; was promoted to first lieutenant, April
1904; was an engineer officer and aide to the commander of the Pacific Division, 1904–
1906; served with the 2d Engineer Battalion, attended the Engineer School, and was aide to
President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906–1908; was troop commander, adjutant, and Army
Service Schools instructor at Fort Leavenworth, 1908–1912; was promoted to captain,
February 1911; was on the General Staff, 1913–1917; took part in the Vera Cruz
Expedition; was promoted to major, December 1915, and colonel, August 1917; was chief
of staff of the 42d Division in France, 1917–1918; was promoted to brigadier general in the
National Army, June 1918, took part in Marne operations, and commanded the 84th
Infantry Brigade in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives; commanded the 42d
Division in the Sedan offensive, 1918; served with the Army of Occupation, 1918–1919;
was superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1919–1922; became a brigadier
general in the Regular Army, January 1920; married Louise Cromwell Brooks, 1922
(divorced 1929); was promoted to major general, January 1925; successively commanded
the District of Manila, 1922–1923, the Fourth and Third Corps Areas, 1925–1928, and the
Ninth Corps Area, 1930; was promoted to temporary general, November 1930; was chief of
staff of the United States Army, 21 November 1930–1 October 1935; stressed Army
deficiencies in personnel and materiel, presided over development of plans for industrial
mobilization and manpower procurement, established an Air Force headquarters,
administered Army control over the Civilian Conservation Corps, and supervised eviction
of "bonus marchers" from Washington; resumed his permanent rank of major general and
became military adviser to the government of the Philippines, 1935–1941; married Jean
Marie Faircloth, 1937; retired from active service, December 1937, but continued as
adviser to the Philippine government; was recalled to active duty as lieutenant general and
named commander, United States Army Forces in the Far East, July 1941; was promoted to
temporary general, December 1941; led American forces in Pacific campaigns as Supreme
Allied Commander, 1941–1945; was promoted to temporary General of the Army
December 1944; received the Medal of Honor for Philippine defense preparations and
operations; was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, Japan, 1945; rank as General of the
Army made permanent, April 1946; was designated commander in chief, Far East
Command, 1947; upon the North Korean invasion of South Korea, was designated
commander, United Nations Command in the Far East, July 1950; was relieved of his
command by President Truman, April 1951; died in Washington, D.C., on 5 April 1964.

The Artist

Robert Oliver Skemp (1910–) was born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. He taught private art
classes at Gary Indiana, in the mid-1930s and was an instructor at the Chicago School of
Professional Art in the mid-1940s while he pursued his primary professional occupation of
portraitist and muralist. In addition to his portraits of prominent figures in business and the
professions, he executed murals for the Mormon Church and for World’s Fairs at New
York and Osaka. He has painted clipper ships of the nineteenth century and other marine
subjects, and illustrated war bond publications during World War II. Mr. Skemp is a fellow
of the American Society of Marine Artists.

 
Douglas MacArthur
By Robert Oliver Skemp
Oil on canvas, 44" x 32", 1973
 

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