Jean Marie MacArthur ( Faircloth; December 28, 1898 – January 22, 2000) was the second wife of

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

Early life and education

Born Jean Marie Faircloth in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, she was the daughter of Edward C. Faircloth, a banker. After her parents divorced when she was eight, her mother took her to live with her grandparents in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. Her grandfather, a former captain in the

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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 , which arrived in the

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on December 29, 1927 from Balboa,

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. When her father died, she inherited a large fortune and travelled extensively.

Marriage

On a trip she intended to be to

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, in 1935, she met General MacArthur aboard the , which was to stop first in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, where MacArthur would disembark. Despite the age difference — she was nearly nineteen years younger than he — they began a permanent relationship in Manila, and married in

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on April 30, 1937, during Gen. MacArthur's trip home to build support for the defense of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. This was to be Gen. MacArthur's last trip to the mainland United States for the next 14 years, when he was relieved from duty by President Truman. His only other visits to U.S. soil between 1937 and 1951 were a 1944 strategy meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii with President

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and Admiral Nimitz and a 1950 meeting with President Truman on

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

. Jean was MacArthur's second wife and he described her as his "constant friend, sweetheart, and devoted support." They had one son,

Arthur MacArthur IV Arthur MacArthur IV (born February 21, 1938) is the only child of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Jean MacArthur. He is also the grandson of Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur Jr. Early life Arthur MacArthur IV's early life was ...

(1938–), and were married until Douglas' death in 1964.

Wartime

Jean MacArthur was with her husband when the Japanese attacked the

and went with him to the island of Corregidor in

's harbor. Even when the island was attacked, she refused to leave her husband. Only when President Roosevelt ordered the MacArthurs to leave did they go to

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Charity work

After her husband's death she helped with the

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and other charities. In her later years, she often gave speeches on her late husband's military career. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

awarded her the

Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...

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 The MacArthur Memorial is a memorial, museum, and research center about the life of General Douglas MacArthur. It consists of three buildings on MacArthur Square in Norfolk, Virginia. * Memorial – located in the former Norfolk City Hall Norf ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, the hometown of Gen. MacArthur's mother.

References

* . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, Jean 1898 births 2000 deaths People from Nashville, Tennessee People from Manhattan American centenarians

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

Ward–Belmont College alumni Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Women centenarians