Bonner Fellers in the Philippines: American Colonial Prototype

Abstract

Bonner Fellers (1896-1973), later prominent in the American occupation of Japan, in 1936 was assigned as captain in the U.S. Army to the staff of General Douglas MacArthur in Manila. His first assignment was to organize and develop a Reserve Officers’ Service School for the newly founded Philippine Army. Fellers's letters to his wife give a private view of how he gained the confidence of both General MacArthur and Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon when from 1937 to 1940 he served both men as principal aide and supported them on a trip to Washington in 1937. Fellers multitasked remarkably well and was privy to the highest level of both the American and Philippine governments.