Jean MacArthur

Jean Marie Faircloth MacArthur (December 28, 1898-January 22, 2000) was the second wife of U.S. Army General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

Early life and education

Born Jean Marie Faircloth in Nashville, Tennessee, she was the daughter of Edward C. Faircloth, a banker. Edward was born at Buffalo, New York on January 27th, 1858. After her parents divorced when she was eight, her mother took her to live with her grandparents in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her grandfather, a captain in the Confederate army, instilled in her a love of uniforms. She attended Ward-Belmont College in Nashville, but graduated from Soule College in Murfreesboro. Jean and her father can be found later listed on a passenger manifest of the SS Belgenland which arrived in the Port of Los Angeles on December 29th, 1927 from Balboa, Panama Canal Zone CZ. When her father died, she inherited a large fortune and travelled extensively.

Marriage

On a trip to Manila in 1935, she met General MacArthur aboard the "S.S. President Hoover". Despite the age difference--she was eighteen years younger than he--they married in New York City on April 30th, 1937. A few months prior to their wedding the betrothed couple can be found listed on the SS Lurline passenger manifest following the steamships return to the Port of Los Angeles on February 13, 1937. The SS Lurline was returning stateside from Honolulu, Hawaii. Jean was Douglas's second wife and he described her as his "constant friend, sweetheart, and devoted support." They had one son, Arthur MacArthur IV, and were married until Douglas's death in 1964.

Wartime

Jean MacArthur was with her husband when the Japanese attacked the Philippines and went with him to the island of Corregidor in Manila's harbor. Even when the island was attacked, she refused to leave her husband. Only when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the MacArthurs to leave did they go to Australia.

Charity work

After her husband's death she helped with the Metropolitan Opera and other charities. In her later years she often gave speeches on her late husband's military career. President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Medal of Freedom in 1988 and the Philippine government gave her its Legion of Merit in 1993.

Death

Mrs. MacArthur died of natural causes in Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan at age 101. She is entombed with her husband in the rotunda of the MacArthur Memorial Building in Norfolk, Virginia, the hometown of Gen. MacArthur's beloved mother.

References

*Enid Nemy. "Jean MacArthur, General's Widow, Dies at 101." "The New York Times." January 24, 2000. B8.
*William Manchester. "American Caesar."