General Douglas MacArthur and his mother, Pinky
“Overparenting had been around long before Douglas MacArthur’s mom Pinky moved with him to West Point in 1899 and took an apartment near the campus, supposedly so she could watch him with a telescope to be sure he was studying.” (1)
Prior to his acceptance at West Point in 1898, Douglas MacArthur had been rejected twice due to curvature of the spine. Once he was finally accepted, his mom Pinky was not about to let him flunk out. She packed her bags, left her family in San Antonio, Texas (where her husband, also a military man, was stationed), moved across the country, and checked into a hotel suite overlooking the West Point Academy grounds forty miles north of distant New York City. Pinky MacArthur was determined that her son would be a success. (Her middle son had died six years earlier.)
MacArthur did not disappoint his mother. In 1903, he graduated first in his class of 93. Brig. General Douglas MacArthur then went on to become superintendent of West Point in 1922.
U.S. General Douglas MacArthur smoking his corncob pipe
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) continued his meteoric rise in service to his country. He fought in three major wars – World War I, World War II, Korean War – and was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army. For his leadership in the defense of the Philippines in World War II, he was awarded the Medal of Honor – a decoration for which he had twice previously been nominated. Allied forces under General MacArthur’s strategic command brought about the surrender of Japan. (3)
To see the full list of MacArthur’s decorations, click here.
Good job, Pinky!
(1) “The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting,” Time, November 20, 2009.
(2) “Memorial Day Memory: General Douglas MacArthur
(3) “Douglas MacArthur,” wikipedia
Lisa's History Room 
This is Carolyn Waller. Two of the greatest figures of the Twentieth Century, F.D.R. and Douglas MacArthur, shared a common heritage; both had stage mothers. So doting was Pinky MacArthur that she erected a tall ladder under her son’s second-story room at West Point so she could have easy access to him.
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hello.enjoyed reading your blog and have found it while searching for frida.history has always been a fascinating subject and your approach to it is anything but stuffy.
am bookmarking your blog and would come for more.
have a good day miss lisa wallers rogers.
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Jaclyn, you are too nice. I appreciate you taking the time to write me such compliments. Now I can keep writing.
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[…] next four years. After all, there really is nothing new to this over-protective parenting aspect. General MacArthur’s mom spent Douglas’ cadet years at the Hotel Thayer at West Point, and he turned out pretty fully […]
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Just came across your blog. You might want to correct this:
Douglas MacArthur (1980-1964) continued his meteoric rise in service to his country.
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Connie, thank you so much for being an eagle eye reader. I have made the correction. Best, Lisa
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She dressed him as a girl until he was 8 years old. He was a paedophile as he took a Filipina mistress at the age of 48, Isabel Cooper was 14 years old at the time. He kept his mother’s corpse on ice in the Manila Hotel for two years before he buried her. MacArthur was a monster.
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I must say that your comment drew my attention. “Dimples” Cooper was a showgirl in the Philippines. Her birth date has never been proven. She was said to have been 16 or 18 when she met MacArthur. MacArthur was a divorced man when they met. He took her to the US and ensconced her in a hotel as being seen with a dark-skinned partner, in the 1920s, wasn’t socially acceptable whereas having a mistress was. We look at this relationship with 21st C appall. The sad part is not that Isabel Cooper was possibly underage. The sad part is that MacArthur loved her and couldn’t take her with him out in society. As for Pinky, MacArthur’s mother, I don’t know anything about him keeping her corpse “on ice.” He loved his mother and she loved him. How you can construe from the two relationships that it makes MacArthur a monster, i don’t follow your logic. If anything, he was fascinating. Readers: https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/08/11/19/the-colorful-life-and-tragic-end-of-the-pinay-showgirl-who-stole-macarthurs-heart
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