Today Jean MacArthur is largely in the shadow of her husband General Douglas MacArthur. By all accounts however, she was a vital member of his inner circle and many of her husband’s biographers considered her an “unusual” but extraordinary woman. She came from a family with a deeply rooted tradition of military service and had a great personal interest in American military history. In possession of a large inheritance, she had spent most of her twenties and thirties traveling around the world – attracting friends and prospective suitors wherever she went. On one of these journeys she was introduced to General Douglas MacArthur – a man 19 years her senior. After a year and a half courtship in Manila, they were married in 1937. MacArthur later wrote that marrying her was the smartest thing he ever did. Part I of the Jean MacArthur story will focus on her early life and marriage to General MacArthur up to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

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