The year 1930 was a turning point in MacArthur's life.
Not only because of this year that he received a letter of appointment from President Hoover, he was admitted from the commander of the Philippine Division and became the chief of the general staff of the US Army.
It was also because he met the most beautiful girl of his life, Isabel Rosario Cooper.
The so-called cave flower candle night, when the gold list was titled, MacArthur's 50-year-old experienced twists and turns, and finally ushered in the coolest spring in his life.
However, he soon became depressed, and the reason was because of the beautiful girl, Isabel.
Isabel
First, the life of a young girl
As a coastal island nation, the Philippines accepts Western moorings, just as beaches accept tides.
Geography determines culture, and humanities write history.
Since Magellan discovered the Philippines in 1521, the island nation has been swept by the tides of Western civilization and has experienced Spanish and American rule.
Around 1898, after MacArthur's father took the Philippines from Spanish troops, people here began to have frequent contacts with British and American merchants.
During this time, an English merchant, in conjunction with a woman here, gave birth to a beautiful Eurasian mixed-race child, she was Isabel.
Apparently, the Englishman did not take on the responsibilities of fatherhood, and Isabel dropped out of school to join a women's song and dance troupe when he was in his 10s.
In April 1930, while watching a boxing match at the Manila Olympic Stadium, MacArthur saw beautiful women performing flower arrangements in between the venues, and he was immediately fascinated by this Eurasian girl.
At this time, Mai, 50 years old, with the rank of major general in the United States Army, served as a Philippine military adviser and the commander of the Philippine Division.
More critically, he is still single.
MacArthur
A year ago, he divorced his first wife, Louis, who had been married for seven years, and the two were childless. So, now MacArthur, although old, is still a rich and charming bachelor.
He wrote a note asking the adjutant to give it to the little beauty.
That's how she got hooked.
At this time, Isabel, 16 years old, has a fragrant life, is shining, Eurasian mixed, especially stunning, and those who see its appearance are all praised:
"I've never seen such an exquisite person," recalled one Washington lobbyist, "looking like it had just been carved out of the finest opal, with a long braid draped over its back..."
A pair of beautiful big eyes, braids are thick and long, this is "Xiao Fang".
Isabel and Xiaofang probably have similar fates.
Second, the father and the girl
50 years old to 16 years old, how is it also the generation of the father, but they need each other and live together. He needs love, she needs pampering.
A few months later, General McMah received an appointment call from the new president, Hoover, asking him to return home to serve as chief of the Army's chief of staff.
On leaving, he bought Isabel a ferry ticket.
But she hesitated and didn't go with him. The two were separated.
On the cruise ship back to the United States, MacArthur lived like a year, restless.
He feared that after he was gone, she would not fall into the hands of Filipino pimps.
Forcing good people into prostitution, in the Philippines at that time, was not surprising. Old Mai lived there for many years and knew everything.
He wrote to her on the cruise ship that love keeps us together forever, whether in this life or in the next life, if you encounter any accidents, I swear, I will never live!
The love of "Daddy" is no less than that of flowers and teenagers.
After receiving the letter, Isabel could not resist the temptation and finally boarded the cruise ship, and the two arrived in Washington one after the other.
Mai took up the post of Chief of the General Staff
Mai took up the post of Chief of the General Staff and lived in the Washington Barracks, the residence of Chief of Staff, Fort Mel, 1.
He brought his elderly and sick mother here as well, and arranged Isabelle in an apartment in the 17th block not far away.
Every day, after eating with his mother, he went to the small apartment to have fun with Isabel.
The supreme commander of the tangtang army, the honor of a country, single and unmarried, living in love with a woman of a very different age, this matter sounds gossipy, but if you think about it, there is nothing illegal and moral.
The old cow eats tender grass, but also ends in etiquette, after all, both parties are not married, it is pure love.
But MacArthur did not dare to make her public, he was afraid that the old mother would not be happy.
His ex-wife had displeased the old man, and the girl he met this time was even more disobedient to the old man's wishes. In this regard, it has to be said that MacArthur was a filial piety.
MacArthur hid her in a golden house, a car, a dollar, a dress, and a poodle when she was lonely, and if she couldn't, she would move to a luxury hotel.
I think that's worth it for her. If it wasn't for him, she might have fallen into the flower field a long time ago.
This is indeed the case.
But for Isabel, such thinking is inherently unequal.
He had no wife, she was with him all day, but she was never regarded as a lady, and she gradually understood that she was not a normal person, but a plaything, and only playthings and tools would be secretly hidden.
This is another way of destroying people, not falling into the bottom of the Philippines, but falling into another kind of grave, the same kind of "slave".
Unwilling to be enslaved, she offered to go to school, to accompany him on a trip, and to change her title to "Madame".
Madam, huh.
Mrs. MacArthur, what is this concept?
Madame, means to form a family with MacArthur, integrate into the MacArthur family, become the bloodline that affects the family, rearrange Mai's life, career, and connections, and divide all his assets in half.
Husbands and wives need equal strength in order to support each other and complete the long road of life.
Before Chiang Kai-shek met Song Meiling, he also had Chen Jieru as a young and beautiful girl, but after the same love passion, he decisively abandoned her and combined with Song, who was rich and influential in the United States, and was widely known to the world, known as "Sino-US cooperation".
And Mai and Yi are not equal at all.
They just need each other for something specific, sex, love, interest, and that's it.
So, Isabel was doomed to tragedy from the start.
The lover of a high-ranking official, the best ending should be to retreat from self-knowledge, prepare a distant luggage for himself when they need each other, and when they no longer need it, they will leave with their bags. At least there is a meager dignity.
Just like Dai Kasa to Yu Shuheng, during her honeymoon, she proposed to go to the United States to study for further study, and before Dai Kasa could find out the truth, she transferred her family to the United States, and finally said 88 to Dai in the United States.
Isabel also brought her family to the United States, but she had no survival skills, no success in her studies, and when the relationship between the two became increasingly stiff, she offered to find a job for her brother.
MacArthur didn't want to make her public, didn't want to get involved in too much of her affairs. He distances himself from his former caution when he discovers that his old careful liver is tired of him and is hanging out with a law student on the pretext of going to school.
So, when she offered to find a job for her family, MacArthur rudely tore up a small advertisement for a newspaper job and told them to find a place to rely on themselves early.
The United States during the Great Depression
In September 1934, four years after the two had known each other, MacArthur sent her a ticket back to Manila, announcing that the relationship had ended.
Unwilling, Isabel moved elsewhere, looking for jobs everywhere, only to go bankrupt.
She asked Mai for money again, but got a cold reply: "If you are in the shelter, call your father or brother to help you." ”
In just 4 years, the fanatical love between the two turned into extremely vicious hatred.
This is the end of the mistress.
The United States during the Great Depression
3. Hunt for MacArthur
The story is not over.
Just as Isabel was left on the streets without being asked, MacArthur's chief of staff was in trouble.
During his tenure, the United States suffered the worst economic crisis in history, with Congress proposing disarmament, military spending cuts, and a 10 percent cut in the salaries of military officers.
Mai disagreed, did not compromise, and made many enemies.
Newspapers also publicly criticized Mai, saying that now people do not have enough to eat, the proportion of unemployed people is 20%, the country does not fight, but it is not disarmed, and MacArthur is a "thief" who pays money from the pockets of workers.
Among the many critics, Pearson, the author of the "Washington Carousel" column, has gone a little too far, not only exposing That mai as the chief of staff by taking the back door, but also exposing many of MacArthur's privacy.
For example, MacArthur privately slandered the Secretary of War and the President as a "stupid, stupid egg";
For example, MacArthur can't "there", he can only pee and so on.
Can't bear it, the highest military general in a country, how can this be!
MacArthur struck a blow and filed a lawsuit against the columnist and the person in charge. In the name of defamation, Pearson was asked for $1.7 million in damages.
Louis and her children
Pearson's meaty words were given to MacArthur's disgruntled ex-wife, Louis.
He received a summons from the court and rushed to Louis for help.
But when Louis arrived in court, he did not dare to repeat the privacy, so Pearson faced a losing situation.
In the midst of the emergency, MacArthur's political enemy in Congress handed Pearson the secret code, saying that you only need to find MacArthur's mixed-race little beauty in a hotel and grab his testicles.
Pearson's team of lawyers immediately moved, frantically searching, and finally found Isabel, who was living on the street and no one asked.
It was a wall of people pushing and beating, a new counter-offensive team was quickly formed, and Isabel was willing to take out all the correspondence with MacArthur in court, exposing the hotter privacy.
Pearson was thrilled.
A lawsuit to hunt MacArthur begins.
When Mai learned of Isabel's trump card through his lawyer, he quickly calmed down.
Under the court, he sent someone to mediate, and finally coerced and seduced, and finally reached an agreement:
(1) Mai no longer claimed $1.7 million, but instead claimed $1;
(2) Isabel sold him the correspondence with Mai for $15,000;
In the end, Mai withdrew the lawsuit and Isabel stopped asking him for money.
A precarious lawsuit was thus settled.
Mai let out a long breath, fortunately, he did not break the law, the 3 parties were satisfied, the matter was abandoned.
Fourth, the end of the mistress
Isabel seems to be asking for too low a price.
After getting $15,000, she moved to the Midwest and bought a barbershop.
After that, it disappeared and faded out of the sight of public opinion.
Later, when Pearson talked about her, he said that she had not heard from her and that she might have been secretly killed by the general.
But there is no evidence.
MacArthur's biography shows that Isabel later married the law student, but the two divorced soon after.
After that, she went to Hollywood, wanting to support herself as a humble actor, but she had no money, no power, no youth, and finally did not enter the shortlist.
She then went to Los Angeles to find a barely breadwinner job and struggled until 1960.
This year, desperate, she swallowed a large number of sleeping tablets, and left this world that gave her endless bitterness with hatred, at the age of 47.
By this time, MacArthur had been dead for 4 years.
In another world, what would two people say when they met?
Isabel's short life tells us:
1️⃣ Woman, no matter how bitter and tired, don't be a mistress, wild lilies also have spring, life is everywhere green mountains, being a mistress is destined to be a tragedy;
2️⃣ Man, if you don't marry her, don't touch her, that will only hurt her, and ultimately hurt yourself;
3️⃣ Love is a floating cloud, family is the cornerstone, madame is a mountain on the cornerstone, and you are the woodcutter who has been cultivating on that mountain for a lifetime.
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Bibliographic reference:
Perret Hu Gang's Biography of MacArthur