DOUGLAS MacARTHUR Letter to silent screen actress Corinne Griffith

nn Church Street, Room 1500
New York 7, New York
May 22, 1961

Dear Corinne

I have read with deep interest the enclosures to your letter of May 19th.

The references to the British are substantially correct. I know nothing as to the participation of Mr. Rusk in my relief from the Far East.

Whatever may have been the voting record of Eisenhower, his actions as President followed generally the policies of the Democratic Party and his support in Congress was largely by the Democratic leaders, Rayburn in the House and Johnson in the Senate. His election and reelection were due largely to normally Democratic voters.

Our best to you, as always,

Faithfully,

DOUGLAS MacARTHUR

Letter was accompanied by a printed excerpt from "And Men Wept" by Catherine Palfrey Baldwin, published in 1954, one of the enclosures referred to by MacArthur. In part: "We understand from a reliable source that the British Ambassador to Japan called upon General MacArthur and told him, 'My country wants you to put Japan in the sterling block,' to which General MacArthur replied 'No, in the United States dollar block, so that she can trade with the United States.' A few days later the Ambassador returned and again spoke to the General, this time his remark was, 'I think I should tell you, General, that if you do not put Japan in the sterling block my country is going to see that you are removed from Japan'...Soon came the recall, the whole country was indignant, few knew the real reason and only a few knew that the brief, recalling this great General, was written in the State Department in Washington by Dean Rusk, the Rhodes scholar...Thus does Britain run the affairs of this nation, Rhodes scholars are educated at Oxford to return as ambassadors for Britain to this country."

SAM RAYBURN was Speaker of the House; LYNDON B. JOHNSON was Senate Majority Leader. DEAN RUSK had been President Kennedy's Secretary of State for four months when Griffith sent her letter to MacArthur.

This information found at: www.galleryofhistory.com

Catherine Palfrey Baldwin was one of the writers to whom The Union Jack was later dedicated.