WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...?

Arthur MacArthur: He's Faded Away, But Will He Ever Return?

Bernard Rathbun of Green Bay, Wis., and Orville Sparrow of Keizer, Ore., ask: Whatever happened to Arthur MacArthur, the son of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

RUMORS abound about the elusive Arthur MacArthur, whose life of anonymity continues to be a subject of speculation. He fell out of sight after his doting father, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, passed away in 1964.

William Manchester, author of "American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur," wrote: "Apparently being a MacArthur was too much; after his father's death, Arthur moved to the other side of Manhattan and took an assumed name. His identity thus concealed, he lived for his music, a fugitive from his father's relentless love."

Various other reports about Arthur MacArthur's whereabouts exist, but none of them has been documented. Some say he is a Wall Street businessman and others, a ballet dancer, presumably because of the interest he once showed in the performing arts.

While the general hoped his son would enroll at West Point in the family's soldier tradition, Arthur instead graduated from Columbia University in 1961.

Arthur was named after his famous grandfather, Civil War veteran Arthur MacArthur. In fact, Douglas MacArthur's grandfather, father, brother, and son were all christened Arthur.