While serving in the Philippines, U.S. Army general Douglas MacArthur had an affair with a teenage girl named Isabel Cooper, and he secretly brought her to the United States when he was reassigned to Washington, D.C. After months of enduring scathing critique by columnist Drew Pearson on other matters, MacArthur sued Pearson for libel. He dropped his lawsuit, however, after learning that Pearson knew about his relationship with Cooper and that he was prepared to reveal the affair if MacArthur pursued his libel suit.
During his assignment as commander of all U.S. troops in the Philippines, the recently divorced Army general Douglas MacArthur befriended a teenage song-and-dance entertainer of Philippine and Scottish ancestry named Isabel Cooper (nicknamed Dimples by the general). MacArthur and Cooper, who was between sixteen and eighteen years old, became lovers.
Douglas MacArthur.
MacArthur returned to the United States in 1930 after being assigned as chief of staff. He arranged for Cooper to meet him in Washington, D.C. He gave her a ticket to follow him on a different ship and set her up in her own apartment for his visits (first in a Georgetown apartment and then in a downtown hotel). When military duties made those visits less frequent, Cooper despite receiving gifts of clothes and jewelry from MacArthur became bored.
Meanwhile, MacArthur was targeted by syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, who claimed that the general’s promotion to major general came about through the intervention of his former father-in-law. In response, MacArthur filed a libel suit against Pearson. The suit never got to court, however, because MacArthur found out that Pearson knew about his relationship with Cooper. MacArthur chose to drop the suit rather than risk his affair being made public.
Born into a military family, MacArthur was the son of Medal of Honor winner Arthur MacArthur, who had served in the Civil War and become a lieutenant general. The younger MacArthur distinguished himself quickly when he entered the Army. He became the decorated commander of the Forty-second Division during World
In 1922, MacArthur had married socialite Louise Cromwell Brooks, who was twice divorced. Brooks, used to more glamorous surroundings, became disenchanted with military life in the Philippines, where her husband was stationed. They divorced in 1929, after seven years of marriage. MacArthur then found romance in the arms of Cooper, a young Eurasian musical performer.
Pearson was a journalist with the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun when he launched, with Robert S. Allen, the syndicated column
Washington Merry-Go-Round in 1932. The column was distributed by United Feature Syndicate, and it appeared in newspapers throughout the United States. In 1931, Pearson and Allen, the Washington bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor, had anonymously published a muckraking book, also called Washington Merry-Go-Round. Pearson was fired from the newspaper because of the book.
In 1932, Pearson criticized MacArthur for his use of force in breaking up a demonstration by some fifteen thousand out-of-work veterans of World
Brooks contacted Pearson with disparaging claims about her former husband. She told Pearson that MacArthur was promoted because of those he knew and because of his family background. In his December 20, 1932, column, Pearson wrote, “General Douglas MacArthur, chief of staff, hero of the Bonus War, was jumped by Newton Baker from major to brigadier general. MacArthur’s father was Lieut. Gen. Arthur MacArthur.” Finally, on May 16, 1934, a fed-up MacArthur, after facing months of criticism by Pearson, filed a $1.75 million libel suit against both Pearson and The Washington Times, which printed the column. If the case had gone to trial with MacArthur as plaintiff, and if Pearson had lost, it might have ruined the credibility of his fledgling column. Pearson apparently thought Brooks would testify as to the veracity of her claims about MacArthur. However, she refused to testify, leaving Pearson without a defense.
The relationship between Cooper and MacArthur had been deteriorating as well. MacArthur gave Cooper another boat ticket, this one to take her back to the Philippines. She never used the ticket, though, and eventually settled in California. Before leaving for the West Coast, she met with Pearson. It is not clear how Pearson found out about Cooper whether one of his sources told him about her or whether she contacted him independently. At their meeting, Cooper gave Pearson a batch of love letters from MacArthur, written to her during their affair. With the letters in hand, Pearson warned MacArthur that he would call Cooper to testify against the general, revealing their affair, if the libel suit came to trial.
Taking his family and career into account, MacArthur withdrew his libel action against Pearson. Pearson had to pay one dollar to have the suit formally dropped, and MacArthur ended up paying fifteen thousand dollars to Cooper for his letters and for her to leave Washington, D.C. She did just that.
MacArthur’s military career likely would have been ruined had the affair come to light. His personal life would have been deeply affected as well. His mother, Mary Pinckney Hardy, oversaw the early development of his military career. He graduated from West Point in 1903, and his mother used both her military and civilian contacts to help him get choice assignments and promotions. She always encouraged her son to strive for perfection in his career, and there can be no doubt that she would have found his affair with Cooper as falling far short of that. She died in 1935, not long after accompanying him to Manila when he was reassigned to the Philippines. She apparently never learned of her son’s affair with Cooper.
Pearson continued writing his column until his death in 1969, by which time it was being carried in more than 650 newspapers. The column was continued by his assistant,
MacArthur rose again to prominence during World
After settling in California, Cooper appeared in several films, sometimes under the name Elizabeth Cooper. She already was somewhat notorious for a 1926 film in which she was part of the first kiss shown in a Philippine film. She made her last film in 1947 and committed suicide in 1960.
Cooper’s letters from MacArthur were never made public. However, one of the subplots in the popular novel Seven Days in May
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Anderson, Douglas A. A “Washington Merry-Go-Round” of Libel Actions. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1980. A survey of lawsuits such as that by Douglas MacArthur against Drew Pearson during the years Washington Merry-Go-Round ran in syndication. -
Anderson, Jack, and Daryl Gibson. Peace, War, and Politics: An Eyewitness Account. New York: Forge Books, 2000. Mostly about Jack Anderson, who succeeded columnist Drew Pearson, but touches on Pearson’s long-held distrust of MacArthur as well as their stalled legal battle. -
MacArthur, Douglas. Reminiscences. Annapolis, Md.: Bluejacket Books, 2001. MacArthur’s memoir, which was completed just weeks before his death. Originally published in 1964. -
Petillo, Carole M. Douglas MacArthur: The Philippine Years. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981. Mainly concerned with establishing the psychological impact on MacArthur of the many years he spent in the Philippines at various intervals in his career.
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