Louise Cromwell (born Henrietta Louise Cromwell; September 24, 1890 – May 30, 1965) was an American

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

whose four marriages included seven years as the first wife of General of the Army

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

. She was "considered one of Washington's most beautiful and attractive young women".

Biography

She was born as Henrietta Louise Cromwell on September 24, 1890, in

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

to Lucretia Bishop "Eva" Roberts and Oliver Eaton Cromwell (1846-1909). Her brothers were the American mountain climber Oliver Eaton Cromwell Jr., and James H. R. Cromwell, the American diplomat and first husband of

Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealth, luxurious lifestyle, and love life attracted ...

. After her father's death her mother married prominent

investment banker Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by unde ...

Edward T. Stotesbury in 1912. She made her debut in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

in 1910. Cromwell married four times. In 1911, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Washington, DC, she married Baltimore businessman Walter Booth Brooks Jr., in a ceremony called "one of the most brilliant social affairs in the Capital that season." They had three children: * Evalyn Louise Brooks (1912–1965); married William Ross Howard III (1907–1978) * Walter Booth Brooks III (1914–1981) * Angela Brooks (1918–1918) Brooks and Cromwell divorced in 1919. In late 1921, Brooks met Brigadier General

. Walter Borneman describes Brooks at this time as “recently divorced, the mother of two young children, fabulously wealthy, and by all accounts the epitome of a liberated Roaring Twenties woman racing a breakneck speed to embrace far more rights than those granted by the recently ratified Nineteenth Amendment.” The pair announced their engagement in mid-January 1922 and were married on

Valentine’s Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it ha ...

, at Louise’s stepfather’s Palm Beach villa. In September 1922, the couple set out for the Philippines, where MacArthur had been transferred for overseas service.

William Manchester William Raymond Manchester (April 1, 1922 – June 1, 2004) was an American author, biographer, and historian. He was the author of 18 books which have been translated into over 20 languages. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the ...

, in his biography of MacArthur, stated that General John J. Pershing, then the Army Chief of Staff, summarily transferred MacArthur from his post as Superintendent of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

to the Philippines because Pershing was himself interested in Mrs. Brooks. She claimed that Pershing wanted to marry her and had threatened to send MacArthur to the Philippines if they married. Pershing said the allegation was "all damn poppycock". More recently, Richard B. Frank has written that Pershing and Brooks had already "severed" their relationship by the time of MacArthur's transfer; Brooks was, however, "informal y engaged to a close aide of Pershing's (she broke off the relationship in order to accept MacArthur's proposal). Pershing's letter concerning MacArthur's transfer predated—by a few days—Brooks's and MacArthur's engagement announcement, though this did not dispel the newspaper gossip. In January 1925, MacArthur was promoted, becoming the youngest major general in the U.S. Army; he and his wife returned to America, choosing to live at Louise’s estate, near

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

(and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

). In 1928, MacArthur set out again for the Philippines, this time as commander of the

Philippine Department The Philippine Department (Filipino: ''Kagawaran ng Pilipinas/Hukbong Kagawaran ng Pilipinas'') was a regular United States Army organization whose mission was to defend the Philippine Islands and train the Philippine Army. On 9 April 1942, duri ...

. This time, with his marriage deteriorating, the general travelled alone; Louise had moved out of the estate with her children, adopting as her residence the entire twenty-sixth floor of the Beverly Hotel in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Brooks's marriage to MacArthur ended in divorce in 1929, on the nominal charge of "failure to support", though both later acknowledged the real reason to be "incompatibility". MacArthur gave the marriage only one sentence in his memoirs; "In February 1922 I entered into matrimony, but it was not successful, and ended in divorce years later for mutual incompatibility." She next married the actor Lionel Atwill, whom she divorced in 1943. In 1944 she married bandleader Alf Heiberg, then a Lieutenant Colonel in the

US Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and the first leader of the

US Air Force Band The United States Air Force Band is a U.S. military band consisting of 184 active-duty members of the United States Air Force. It is the Air Force's premier musical organization and is based at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. Wi ...

. That marriage also ended in divorce. Brooks died of a heart attack in

at the age of 74.

Biography

References

Further reading