MacArthur, Douglas / MacArthur, Jean / Douglas, Lewis William. Three Letters relating to Douglas MacArthur and Field-Marshal Alanbrooke. Small collection consisting of two typed and signed letters and one hand written letter. Letter 1: typed letter, dated 23 August 1962 from Douglas MacArthur to Mr. William O. Randall, signed by Douglas MacArthur. Letter 2: Typed letter, dated January 22, 1964 from Lewis William Douglas to Lady Alanbrooke; some handwritten notes, signed ‘Lew’. Letter 3: handwritten letter from Jean MacArthur to Lady Alanbrooke. 1962, 1964, 1964.

Letter 1: Typed letter, dated 23 August 1962 from Douglas MacArthur to Mr. William O. Randall, signed by Douglas MacArthur. Quote from the letter: ‘Alanbrooke, himself, is undoubtedly the greatest soldier that England has produced since Wellington. His greatness arises not only from his deeds but perhaps even more so from his restraints upon many fantastic concepts which might well have destroyed the Allies’ hope of victory. His selflessness and modesty have prevented his receiving the proper acclaim that is his due.’

Letter 2: Typed letter, dated January 22, 1964 from Lewis William Douglas to Lady Alanbrooke; some handwritten notes, signed ‘Lew’. Mr. Douglas, an American politician and diplomat served as US Ambassador to the UK from 1947 to 1950. In this letter to Lady Alanbrooke, sent six months after Field Marshal Alanbrooke’s death he tells her about the meeting of one of his friends (Franz Schneider) with General MacArthur in which MacArthur expressed his opinion that “Alanbrooke was the best general the British have had going back to the days of Marlborough.”

Letter 3: Handwritten letter from Jean MacArthur (second wife to General MacArthur) to Lady Alanbrooke, dated April ?, 1964, the month her husband general MacArthur died (April 5, 1964). The letter reads:

Dear Lady Alanbrooke-
I thank you for your letter and your kind thought in writing to me at this time – I appreciate deeply all you wrote of my husband and I want you to know the great admiration and respect in which he held your husband.
Their meeting in Japan was truly for the general a most satisfying and rewarding experience and he often spoke of it-
Again I thank you and I hope someday our paths may cross. This would give me great pleasure.
Sincerely – Jean MacArthur”

Field Marshal Alanbrooke and General Douglas MacArthur met for the first time in November 1945. In ‘Reminiscences’ Mac Arthur calls Alanbrooke “the finest strategic mind I had as yet encountered during or after the war”. Alanbrooke, on the other hand saw in MacArthur “the greatest general and the best strategist that the war produced.”

The above letters reflect the great admiration these two Generals held for each other.

• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 101524AB

Our price: EUR 2.250,--