National Affairs: Man of the Hour

For five days after his New York reception, General Douglas MacArthur stayed secluded in his ten-room, $130-a-day Waldorf-Astoria suite, but all the while his name—and the debate he set off—went on blooming steadily in black headlines.

During MacArthur's five days of retreat in Manhattan, coveys of cops, MPs and hotel dicks turned both press and public aside. Special switchboard arrangements diverted almost all of his 3,000-odd daily telephone calls. His zealous military secretary, Major General Courtney Whitney, onetime Manila lawyer, carried his word to Manhattan's clamoring reporters.

Doubting Thomases. "MacArthur," Whitney said, still...