9. MacArthur took Eisenhower with him to the Philippines in 1935
Dwight D. Eisenhower served as MacArthur’s aide during his tenure as Chief of Staff, and he joined the new Philippine Field Marshal in Manila. On the voyage to Manila, MacArthur met Jean Marie Faircloth, another wealthy socialite. She was 19 years his junior, but they became inseparable. She had been bound for Shanghai, the next leg of the ship’s voyage, but she disembarked in Manila. MacArthur’s mother grew ill on the voyage, and died weeks after arriving in the Philippines. The couple were drawn ever closer together. In 1937 they married in New York, while MacArthur was on a trip to the United States to promote defense of the Philippines to American war planners and politicians.
Eisenhower and MacArthur were frequently at odds in the Philippines. “Probably no one has had tougher fights with a senior than I had with MacArthur”, Ike later said. Ike also disapproved of his commander’s theatrical behavior – he called it “irrational” – and his vanity. To Ike, MacArthur had been, “raised in the conception of Douglas MacArthur superiority”. After two difficult years in the Philippines, Eisenhower wrote of the problems of preparing the army for combat, in reference to its commander, “We have been beset on all sides by difficulties arising from personal ambition, personal glorification, personal selfishness”. On his part, MacArthur was jealous of Eisenhower’s cordial reception by the Filipinos, and removed him from his role as his chief of staff in 1938.