Marshall summoned an expert: MacArthur’s former chief of staff, Dwight D. Eisenhower, now a general himself. Asked how the army could best support MacArthur, Eisenhower responded, “It will be a long time before major reinforcements can go to the Philippines, longer than the garrison can hold out with any driblet of assistance, if the enemy commits major forces to their reduction. The people of China, of the Philippines, of the Dutch East Indies will be watching us. They may excuse failure but they will not excuse abandonment. We must do what we can.”
