8. MacArthur and Franklin Roosevelt proved politics makes strange bedfellows
When FDR entered the White House in 1933, he brought with him a slew of programs which he called the New Deal. MacArthur opposed virtually all of them. But there was one which he wholeheartedly supported. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, in which young men would work for a stipend while residing in camps under semi-military discipline, appealed to the General. It was up to the Army to organize and operate the camps. MacArthur took personal interest in creating the CCC, organizing its operations, eventually installing an administrative system which focused on each camp administering itself as individual entities. In most other areas though, MacArthur and FDR were at odds with one another.
Their disagreements were chiefly over money, which MacArthur wanted spent on the Army and which FDR needed for other programs. FDR was well known for favoring the Navy in military budget meetings. Their meetings with each other became known for their hostility, often degenerating into shouting arguments. Nonetheless, FDR had MacArthur’s tour as Chief of Staff extended for one year. In 1935 MacArthur was asked to reorganize the Philippine Army by President Manuel Quezon, with the rank of Field Marshal. MacArthur was sent to the Philippines as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government, retaining his rank and pay as a Major General in the United States Army, as well as the salary of a Field Marshal. FDR approved the arrangement. MacArthur left for the Philippines in October, 1935. He took his mother with him.