Eugene MacDonald was a strong-willed man whose career and lifestyle did affect son John. As a young boy Eugene was given some Horatio Alger stories and his life seemed to be based on the Alger philosophy: " he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps."
JDM regretted that he never seemed to measure up well in his father’s eyes, even after his writing became popular and respected.
I have read his un-published auto-biography and hope one day to include an essay on it in a longer work on JDM.
From his first page with my comments on themes found in the work:
here is a sample page from the auto-biography:
Eugene’s accomplishments working for the Savage Arms Corp. in Utica, N.Y. in World War 2 were honored in a ceremony, some photos of which are below. Note the picture of the sub-machine gun and its inscription.
