Editing Richard K. Sutherland (section)

===World War II===
[[File:MacArthur, Kenney and Sutherland.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Left to right: Lieutenant General [[George Kenney]], Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, President [[Sergio Osmeña]], General [[Douglas MacArthur]], pictured here off Leyte, October 1944.]]

As tensions with [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] rose, Sutherland rose rapidly in rank, receiving a promotion to full [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]], then to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in July 1941 and to [[Major general (United States)|major general]], just a few months later, in December 1941, the same month of America's entry into World War II.<ref name="dictionary"/>

Following the fall of Manila, MacArthur's headquarters moved to the island fortress of [[Corregidor]], where it was the target of numerous Japanese air raids, forcing the headquarters to move into the [[Malinta Tunnel]]. Sutherland was a frequent visitor to the front on [[Bataan]]. He was given a cash payment of $75,000 by [[Manuel L. Quezon|President Quezon]]. In March 1942, MacArthur was ordered by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to relocate to [[Australia]]. Sutherland selected the group of advisers and subordinate military commanders that would accompany MacArthur and [[Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines|escape from the Philippines]] in four PT boats. Sutherland would remain MacArthur's chief of staff for the entire war.<ref>Rogers, ''The Good Years'', pp. 120–21, 128–30, 165, 189</ref>

Sutherland attracted antagonism from subordinate American and [[Australia]]n officers because of perceptions that he was high-handed and overprotective of MacArthur. Sutherland was often given the role of "hatchet man". Bad news invariably came through Sutherland rather than from MacArthur himself.

According to some sources he contributed to a rift between MacArthur and the first SWPA air forces commander, [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[George Brett (military)|George Brett]]. [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[George Kenney]], Brett's successor, became so frustrated with Sutherland in one meeting, that Kenney drew a dot on a plain page of paper and said: "the dot represents what you know about air operations, the entire rest of the paper what I know."<ref>{{Cite journal |last = Wolk |first = Herman S. |title = The Genius of George Kenney |journal = Air Force Magazine Online |volume = 85 |issue = 4 |date = April 2002 |url = http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2002/April%202002/0402kenney.aspx |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100713050632/http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2002/April%202002/0402kenney.aspx |url-status = usurped |archive-date = 13 July 2010 }}</ref>

Sutherland had been taught to fly in 1940 by [[US Army Air Corps]] instructors at the Philippine Army Training Center and had been awarded a civil pilot's license by the Civil Aeronautics Association. Flying then became one of his favourite recreational activities. Throughout the war, he flew often as a co-pilot with General MacArthur's personal pilot, Weldon "Dusty" Rhoades. In March 1943 he asked to be formally recognised as a "service pilot", a form of pilot restricted to non-combat duties. His request was turned down by the Commanding General of the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]], [[General officer|General]] [[Henry H. Arnold]] on the grounds that he was over the age limit and not performing flying duties. However, Sutherland secured an official pilot's rating under Philippine Army regulations in 1945.<ref>{{cite book |last = Griffith |first = Thomas E. Jr |title = MacArthur's Airman: General George C. Kenney and the war in the Southwest Pacific |publisher = [[University Press of Kansas]] |year = 1998 |location = [[Lawrence, Kansas]] |pages = [https://archive.org/details/macarthursairman00grif/page/67 67–68, 272–73] |isbn = 0-7006-0909-1 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/macarthursairman00grif/page/67 }}</ref>

In 1943 Sutherland and Kenney took part in an effort to promote General MacArthur's candidacy for the Presidency, working with Senator [[Arthur H. Vandenberg]] of [[Michigan]] to get the War Department to rescind the order that prevented MacArthur from seeking or accepting political office.

[[File:MacArthur and Sutherland.jpg|thumb|right|Japan, 30 August 1945 Among those present are: Major General [[Joseph M. Swing]], Commanding General, 11th Airborne Division, (left); Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland (3rd from right); Douglas MacArthur (2nd From right); General [[Robert L. Eichelberger]] (right). Aircraft in the background is a Douglas C-54.]]
It was Sutherland who represented MacArthur before the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] on this and other occasions. Sutherland opened, read, and frequently answered all communications with MacArthur, including those addressed to him personally or "eyes only". Some decisions often attributed to MacArthur were actually taken by Sutherland. For example, the decision to bypass Mindanao and move on directly to Leyte was taken by Sutherland on MacArthur's behalf, while MacArthur was traveling under radio silence.{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}}

Sutherland's conduct in Washington enraged [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Army Chief of Staff]] [[General]] [[George C. Marshall|Marshall]]. He prepared a letter that he never sent to MacArthur saying Sutherland was ''"totally lacking in the facility of dealing with others.... He antagonized almost every official in the War Department with whom he came in contact and made our dealings with the Navy exceptionally difficult. Unfortunately he appears utterly unaware of the effects of his methods, but to put it bluntly, his attitude in almost every case seems to have been that he knew it all and nobody else knew much of anything."''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Heinrichs|first1=Waldo|last2=Gallicchio|first2=Marc
|title=Implacable Foes: War in the Pacific, 1944–1945
|url=https://archive.org/details/implacablefoeswa0000hein_u8l8/page/46/mode/1up
|date=1 May 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=46–47,601}}</ref>

When MacArthur discovered that Eisenhower had promoted his chief of staff, [[Walter Bedell Smith]], to the rank of [[Lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]] in January 1944, he immediately arranged for Sutherland to be promoted to the same rank.

====Affair with Elaine Clark====
During the time while MacArthur's GHQ SWPA was located in [[Melbourne]], Sutherland met Elaine Bessemer Clark, the socialite daughter of [[Normsan Brooks|Norman Brookes.]] Her husband, a [[British Army]] officer, was serving overseas. When GHQ moved to [[Brisbane]] in July 1942, Clark moved with it, as did two other civilian women, Beryl Stevenson and Louise Mowat, who worked as secretaries for Generals Kenney and [[Richard Marshall (American general)|Richard Marshall]] respectively. Sutherland installed Clark as the receptionist at the AMP Building, where MacArthur had his headquarters.<ref name="bitter years">{{cite book  |last = Rogers |first = Paul P. |title = MacArthur and Sutherland: The Bitter Years |publisher = Praeger |year = 1991 |location = [[New York City]]  |pages = 65–66, 68–69, 236–37, 306|isbn = 0-275-92919-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11812587 |title=Mrs Bessemer Clarke Captain in American WAC [Women's Army Corps]|newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=30,446 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 March 1944 |access-date=17 June 2016 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=The General's Journal |date=June 2014 |issue=3 |title=Three generals, two secretaries in World War II |last=Martin |first=David |pages=4–5 |url=https://issuu.com/macarthurmuseumbrisbane/docs/gj_-_issue_3 |access-date=17 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=The General's Journal |date=June 2014 |issue=4 |title=Three generals, two secretaries in World War II |last=Martin |first=David |pages=7–8 |url=https://issuu.com/thegeneralsjournal/docs/issue_03_march_2015 |access-date=17 June 2016 }}</ref>

When GHQ began planning to move forward to New Guinea, Sutherland requested personnel from the [[Women's Army Corps]] to replace civilian employees of GHQ who, by agreement between MacArthur and the [[Prime Minister of Australia]], [[John Curtin]], could not be sent outside Australia. Sutherland further asked for direct commissions for Clark, Mowat and Stevenson. This exploited a loophole whereby enlistments in the Women's Army Corps were restricted to American citizens, but officer commissions were not. Major General Miller G. White, the U. S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and Colonel [[Oveta Culp Hobby]], the commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps, were strongly opposed; but they were overruled by Deputy Chief of Staff [[Joseph T. McNarney]], on his being informed that the commissions were personally desired by MacArthur as essential to the operation of his headquarters and the prosecution of the war. Clark was commissioned as a captain, while the other two women, as well as General Eisenhower's driver, [[Kay Summersby]], were commissioned as [[first lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last = Treadwell |first = Mattie E. |title = United States Army in World War II: Special Studies: The Women's Army Corps |publisher = [[United States Army Center of Military History]] |year = 1991 |orig-year = 1954 |id = CMH Pub 11-8 |location = [[Washington, D.C.]] |pages = 393, 413–14 |url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Wac/index.htm |access-date = 8 July 2010 |archive-date = 2 March 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210302231229/https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/Wac/index.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref>

Although her rank was more a reflection of Sutherland's status rather than her own, Clark became an assistant to the headquarters commandant, with duties commensurate with her rank, and moved with Advance GHQ to [[Jayapura|Hollandia]]. However, her presence there, in contravention of MacArthur's agreement with Curtin, brought down the displeasure of MacArthur, who ordered her to be returned to Australia, first from Hollandia, and later from the Philippines. That Sutherland defied MacArthur on this matter caused a rift between the two.<ref name="bitter years" />