Like
his predecessor, High Commissioner Paul McNutt arrived in the Philippines
unburdened by any depth of understanding of the Philippines policy of the
Democratic Party, and with no firm policy of his own. His instructions from Roosevelt
were intentionally vague. Conservative by inclination and parochial in outlook
(he was formerly the governor of Indiana) McNutt's vision of the "best
advantage of the American people" rarely extended beyond the interests of
the small American community in the Philippines. Shortly after his arrival
in the Philippines, McNutt informed the foreign consuls that official
communications with the Commonwealth were to be channeled through his office and
reminded them that the high commissioner took precedence over the Commonwealth
president at official functions.
Quezon acquiesced gracefully, and became
a poker-playing intimate of McNutt, from where he was able to sit at the elbow
of power. McNutt fully expected to launch his own campaign for President when
FDR retired in 1940 without seeking a third term, though being in the
Philippines kept him out of the mainstream of Democratic Party visibility.
McNutt dismissed MacArthur's defense efforts in the Philippines as having
"little or no effect relation to contemporaneous defense" of the
Commonwealth, and ultimately concluded that "irrespective of economic
reform, the Philippines could neither be neutralized or prepared for its defense
by 1946."
Frank
Hindman Golay
"Face of Empire"
