MacArthur’s “fascist movement.” Fairy tale?
January 2nd, 2009 From
>X-Authentication-Warning: ecom7.ecn.bgu.edu: mslrc owned process doing -bs
>Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 17:30:58 -0500 (CDT)
>From: “Louis R. Coatney”
>X-Sender: mslrc@ecom7.ecn.bgu.edu
>To: Mike Potter
>cc: mahan@microwrks.com, milhst-l@ukanvm.cc.ukans.edu,
> consim-l@listserv.uni-c.dk,
> “William D. Anderson”
> “Louis R. Coatney”
>Subject: Re: MacArthur’s “fascist movement.” Fairy tale?
>Precendence: bulk
>Sender: mahan-owner@microworks.net
>
>
>Mike,
>
> Thanks for your quick response. We’ll see if anyone has
>anything to add on the other channels. I heard this on (one of
>the) H-Net channels, but the member was mentioning it as though it
>were a reality, not a suspicion or rumor … and he mentioned
>Patton. Either the question I raised about that wasn’t posted or
>didn’t get a clear reply.
>
> As to Oppenheimer, I suppose you are aware of Sudoplatov’s
>allegation that O. knowingly included scientists with Sov. contacts
>on the Manhattan team and was aware of the “intelligence outflow.”
>Sudoplatov’s book has since been challenged intensively. You would
>think such activities would show up in the Venona intercepts, unless
>this was set up as a special project bypassing the Embassy. In any
>case, further corroboration is apparently necessary before Oppenheimer
>*is* implicated.
>
>Lou
> Coatney, mslrc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu
>
>On Tue, 20 May 1997, Mike Potter wrote:
> > In my message I alluded to FDR’s concern about MacArthur, that he was
> > “the most dangerous man in America.” As for sources, Eric Larrabee
> > quoted FDR in =Commander in Chief=. I recall also William Manchester
> > mentioned it in =American Caesar= (a poor book IMHO – ought to be
> > re-titled =Gossip about MacArthur=). Such sources establish that the
> > rumor existed – but not that truth was necessarily behind the rumor. My
> > point was that FDR apparently proceeded on that assumption. I don’t know
> > what, if anything, stimulated FDR to think that.
>
> > Suppose: Some right-wing group discusses MacArthur as a potential leader
> > and that filters back to FDR. FDR suspects MacArthur is involved and
> > henceforth treats him that way. The rest is history. But MacArthur might
> > have had no contact with, indeed no knowledge of, any such group. If so,
> > his case would be similar to those of J. Robert Oppenheimer or Niccolò
> > Machiavelli. It seems both came under suspicion for reasons not actually
> > involving them.