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General Douglas MacArthur and His Corn Cob Pipe
By William Miller

Perhaps there is no figure more famous for smoking a corn cob pipe than General Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964).  This month, we explore two urban legends around the pipe smoking of this remarkable and controversial character in US history.  The first is the rumor that he actually didn’t smoke the pipe at all, but simply kept an empty pipe handy as a prop when photographed.  The second is that he actually prefered cigars and when in private did not smoke a pipe.

Douglas MacArthur was born in an army barracks in Little Rock, Arkansas, were his father, a soldier, was stationed.  He came from a long line of military leaders and graduated from West Point.  His impressive 50 year service in the United States Army included commanding troops in three major wars (WWI, WWII and Korea).  He obtained the rank of General of the Army (Five Star General) and is only one of five to ever attain that rank.  He is also the most decorated American soldier in history.  Between WWI and WWII, he was Superintendant of the US Military Academy at West Point and implemented many reforms bringing it up to modern academic standards for the time.  During WWII, he was the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area in the fight against the Japanese.  He personally accepted the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri, thus ending World War II.  Following this, he was in charge of the post-war occupation and re-organization of Japan.  With the escalation of events leading to the Korean War, he was placed in charge of US military operations in Korea.  On April 6, 1951, he was relieved of command by President Truman because of his continued provacation of China, including his publicly stated opinions that the Korean conflict should be expanded into a US invasion of China along with the use of nuclear weapons.

There are many biographies written about this much beloved and contraversial figure.  Those references that I could find regarding his smoking habits stated that he loved a long stemmed, corn cob pipe because of its cool smoke.  From the pictures included here, we can see that he had several different styles of corn cob pipes.  He is attributed by some to designing the famous one where a long stem enters the middle of a full length cob (first and last photos).  It seems clear that he did, in fact, smoke these pipes.  The rumor that he didn’t actually light his pipe seems odd and can be traced to his famous return to the Phillipines where he had to wade ashore through the surf.  Upon reaching dry land, there was a group of photographers ready to take his picture.  He apparently refused to allow this until he had fished out his corn cob pipe and stuck it in his mouth, unlit.  One can hardly expect him to have had a lighted pipe while struggling with the waves as he waded ashore.

As far as the idea that he secretly prefered to smoke cigars in private, this seems obsurd.  Like most men who attain such high levels of command, he had a very strong personality and was known for doing what he pleased.  It seems hard to imagine that the Supreme Commander of all allied forces in the Pacific Theatre would feel embarassed about being seen puffing a stogie like General Patton and yet somehow more comfortable donning a ridiculusly long corn cob pipe like some “Oaky from the Stokey”.

In any event, he certainly is immortalized as seen here… stern countenance on his face, hands resolutely on his hips, and a most curiously long (both horizontally and vertically) corn cob pipe clenched in his mouth.