Editing Douglas MacArthur (section)

===1948 presidential election===

{{main|1948 United States presidential election}}
In 1948, MacArthur made a bid to win the Republican nomination for president, which was the most serious of several efforts he made over the years.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=202}} MacArthur's status as one of America's most popular war heroes together with his reputation as the statesman who had "transformed" Japan gave him a strong basis for running for president, but MacArthur's lack of connections within the GOP were a major handicap.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=203}} MacArthur's strongest supporters came from the quasi-isolationist, Midwestern wing of the Republicans and embraced men such as Brigadier General [[Hanford MacNider]], [[Philip La Follette]], and Brigadier General [[Robert E. Wood]], a diverse collection of "[[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]]" and [[Progressive Republican]]s only united by a belief that the U.S. was too much involved in Europe for its own good.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|pp=203–204}} MacArthur declined to campaign for the presidency himself, but he privately encouraged his supporters to put his name on the ballot.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=205}} MacArthur had always stated he would retire when a peace treaty was signed with Japan, and his push in the fall of 1947 to have the U.S. sign a peace treaty with Japan was intended to allow him to retire on a high note, and thus campaign for the presidency. For the same reasons, Truman subverted MacArthur's efforts to have a peace treaty signed in 1947, saying that more time was needed before the U.S. could formally make peace with Japan.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=207}} Truman in fact was so worried about MacArthur becoming president that in 1947 he asked General Dwight Eisenhower (who, similar to Truman, did not like MacArthur either) to run for president and Truman would happily be his running mate. In 1951 he asked Eisenhower again to run to stop MacArthur. Eisenhower asked, "What about MacArthur?" Truman said, "I'm going to take care of MacArthur. You'll see what happens to MacArthur."<ref>{{cite news |author= <!-- staff writer --> |date= 11 July 2003 |title= Truman Wrote of '48 Offer to Eisenhower |newspaper= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/us/truman-wrote-of-48-offer-to-eisenhower.html |access-date= 23 April 2021 |archive-date= 3 June 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170603084430/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/us/truman-wrote-of-48-offer-to-eisenhower.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite interview |last= Haig | first= Alexander M. Jr. |date= 30 November 2007 |title= Interview with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. |publisher= Richard Nixon Presidential Library |interviewer-last1= Naftali |interviewer-first1= Timothy |interviewer-last2= Powers |interviewer-first2= John |interviewer-last3= Brinkley |interviewer-first3= Douglas |interviewer-last4= Musgrave |interviewer-first4= Paul |url= https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/histories/haig-2006-11-30.pdf |access-date= 23 April 2021 |archive-date= 19 March 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210319130909/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/histories/haig-2006-11-30.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref>

Without a peace treaty, MacArthur decided not to resign while at the same time writing letters to Wood saying he would be more than happy to accept the Republican nomination if it were offered to him.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|pp=207–208}} In late 1947 and early 1948, MacArthur received several Republican grandees in Tokyo.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=208}} On 9 March 1948 MacArthur issued a press statement declaring his interest in being the Republican nominee for president, saying he would be honored if the Republican Party were to nominate him, but would not resign from the Army to campaign for the presidency.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=213}} The press statement had been forced by Wood, who told MacArthur that it was impossible to campaign for a man who was not officially running for president, and that MacArthur could either declare his candidacy or see Wood cease campaigning for him.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|p=213}} MacArthur's supporters made a major effort to win the Wisconsin Republican primary held on 6 April 1948.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|pp=206–207}} MacArthur's refusal to campaign badly hurt his chances and it was won to everybody's surprise by [[Harold Stassen]].{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|pp=212, 217}} The defeat in Wisconsin followed by defeat in Nebraska effectively ended MacArthur's chances of winning the Republican nomination, but MacArthur refused to withdraw his name until the [[1948 Republican National Convention]], at which Governor [[Thomas Dewey]] of New York was nominated.{{sfn|Schonberger|1974|pp=218–219}}