7. MacArthur adopted several eccentricities while serving in Washington
The most famous accessories commonly associated with Douglas MacArthur are an oversized corncob pipe and aviator sunglasses. They went with a crushed cap. In 1930 MacArthur presented a different image. He affected a cigarette holder, well-jeweled, while at his desk in the War Department. Over his uniform, he wore a kimono, and he used a Japanese fan to attempt to ward off the stifling heat of a Washington summer. Each day he left his office to join his mother for lunch, driven there in an official car by an Army driver. He created a public relations staff, ostensibly to promote the Army’s goals in the 1930s, but in reality, to promote him. When asked for an opinion, he began the habit of answering beginning with “MacArthur thinks…”
Budget reductions, isolationism, and the Great Depression force major reorganizations upon the Army in the 1930s. The Depression also brought about an army of veterans demanding early payment of their promised bonuses. At first, MacArthur supported the veterans, even providing mobile army kitchens to their camps. In late July a riot with the DC police led to two veterans being shot. Fearing further violence, President Hoover ordered MacArthur to surround the camps to secure them. MacArthur instead used army troops with fixed bayonets and tear gas to disperse the so-called Bonus Army. While a political disaster for the Hoover Administration, MacArthur was lauded by the far-right who believed the Bonus Army to have been incited by communists.