United States Presidential Candidates 1948

"MacArthur could not understand why we had permitted the enemy, the Chinese Communists, to have the advantage of a sanctuary as their base of supply and air operations. He expressed the strong conviction that had we carried the war to the Chinese with air attacks across the Yalu River, or even with the threat of such attacks, the war in Korea would have taken a course far more favorable to the United states and the United Nations. When the Chinese came into the war, masquerading their best armies as "volunteers," we should have hit them hard, MacArthur said. He said he couldn't conceive that our government would fail to retaliate when a nation came to war against us and crossed over the border into the country in which our troops were in battle. MacArthur was particularly bitter that his government had failed to do everything in its power to protect the American and Allied troops under his command when those men were menaced by the Chinese armies that were hurled into the Korean War. I fully agreed with MacArthur that we should not have allowed the enemy a sanctuary north of the Yalu. I have never changed my opinion."

"Another long message on "strategy" to MacArthur. He sent in one extolling the virtues of the flank offensive. Wonder what he thinks we've been studying for all these years. His lecture would be good for plebes."

"The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. General MacArthur mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgment in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces."

"General MacArthur was fond of saying that he had a policy, and President Truman had no policy. But when he testified before Senator Russell's committee, it became quite clear that the shoe was on the other foot. One senator asked him, "Assume we embrace your program, and assume the Chinese were chased back across the Yalu River, and suppose they then refused to sign a treaty, and to enter into an agreement on what their future course will be, what course would you recommend at that stage? General MacArthur had nothing to recommend. "I don't think they could remain in a state of belligerency," he replied grandly. He had no solution to the problem of maintaining an army across 420 miles of northern Korea, compared to the 110 miles of front we were required to defend along the 38th parallel. He admitted it would be madness to invade Manchuria and begin an all-out war with China's 400 million people. Where did this leave General MacArthur's much-quoted phrase, There is no substitute for victory?" It was Harry S. Truman who had a policy. General MacArthur was nothing more than a collection of disorganized ideas."

"This has been a hectic month. General Mac, as usual has been shooting off his mouth. He made a preelection statement that cost us votes and he made a postelection statement that has him in hot water in Europe and at home. I must defend him and save his face even if he has tried on various and numerous occasions to cut mine off. But I must stand by my subordinates..."

"So Weinberger reported to MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane, where he was a very junior officer on the staff of the legendary general. Nonetheless, he saw enough to have a full appreciation of MacArthur's brilliance. "I saw the plans for the invasion of Japan," Weinberger says. "The breadth and scope of MacArthur's brilliance. With very few troops, a couple of understrength divisions, and some Australian militia forces, he accomplished an enormous amount in the Pacific." The young intelligence officer also learned directly from MacArthur about judgment and decision making. Weinberger was on duty one night as American forces were moving on a small island, lightly occupied by the Japanese, to take it for a radio base. Suddenly, there were reports of a Japanese ship and Japanese aircraft in the vicinity. Weinberger thought he'd better take this information directly to MacArthur. "So I walked two blocks to his hotel," Weinberger remembers. "I got through the various security and gave him the message He came out in his bathrobe, looking just as erect and imposing as he did in full uniform, that magnificent posture, deep voice. He looked the message over carefully and said, 'Well, Lieutenant, what do you think?' I said, 'General, I think it's a coincidence that they're there. They don't seem to have hostile intent. I would go ahead with the landing.' General MacArthur said, 'That's what I think, too. Good night.'" Weinberger walked back through the night to his post "in fear and trembling — to see if I was wrong or not. Fortunately, it worked out.""

"On November 6, the day before the 1950 elections, General MacArthur issued a demand to bomb the Yalu River bridges. Men and material were pouring across them and he said, "This movement not only jeopardizes but threatens the ultimate destruction of the forces under my command." With great reluctance, Dad gave him permission to destroy the Korean end of the bridges. But General Bradley pointed out to my father that within fifteen to twenty days the Yalu would be frozen, and the bombardment, so frantically insisted upon by General MacArthur, was hardly worth the risk of bombs dropping in Chinese or Soviet territory. The following day General MacArthur reported that enemy planes were engaging in hit-and-run raids across the Yalu and demanded the right to pursue them into their "sanctuary." Panic reigned in the UN until my father categorically rejected this request, which could only have widened the war. General MacArthur did not seem to realize that our planes were flying from privileged sanctuaries in Japan which could have been attacked by Russian or Chinese aircraft if we gave them the pretext by bombing targets in Manchuria."

"Not a simple man!"

"After sounding the alarm about Chinese intervention in the gravest possible terms, General MacArthur now did a complete flip-flop. He decided that he could resume his advance to the Yalu. The Joint Chiefs nervously asked him to remember that he was under orders to use only Republic of Korea troops in these northern provinces. General MacArthur replied that he was using Americans for the advance but would withdraw them as soon as he had cleared the area. This was a definite act of insubordination. But the Joint Chiefs were far more worried about MacArthur's appalling strategy. He had divided his army into two parts, sending one up the eastern side of Korea, the other up the west, separated by a massive mountain barrier that made liaison impossible. He called it a "general offensive" to "win the war" and predicted that the troops will "eat Christmas dinner at home." In one communiqué he described his advance as "a massive compression envelopment." In another report he called it "the giant U.N. pincer.""

"Everyone feared that MacArthur was plunging toward disaster, but no one had the courage to speak out. Finally, General Ridgway, who was not a member of the Joint Chiefs and therefore without a vote, asked for permission to speak. He declared that they owed it "to the men in the field and the God to whom we must answer for these men's lives to stop talking and to act." The only answer he received was silence. Later, General Ridgway buttonholed General Hoyt Vandenberg, commander of the Air Force. "Why don't the Joint Chiefs send orders to MacArthur and tell him what to do?" Vandenberg shook his head. "What good would that do? He wouldn't obey the orders. What can we do?" "You can relieve any commander who won't obey orders, can't you?" General Ridgway exclaimed. General Vandenberg gave General Ridgway a look that was, Ridgway says "both puzzled and amazed." Then he walked away without saying a word."

"I graduated on June 13, number 4 in a class of 102. General MacArthur gave me my diploma and his "Congratulations, Mr. Taylor" was the last time I heard his voice until, as the new Chief of Staff of the Army, I called on him in the Waldorf Towers in 1956. Although he had done much for the Corps of Cadets during his superintendency, oddly enough he had never made an effort to impress his personality on the cadets through direct communication with them. I do not ever recall his having made a speech to us and only a few cadets were ever asked to his house. Certainly no graduate has left greater evidence of deep affection for West Point and the Corps than MacArthur, but the cadets saw little of this during his superintendency."

"McVay and the Indianapolis were about to sail from he Marianas Sea Frontier into the Philippine Sea Frontier, and it was like passing between two different worlds. A ship moved from one frontier to the other by crossing the Chop, a boundary marked by the 130-degree line of longitude. Clear as this delineation was, there was a complicating factor: communications in this area were often confused by a political battle between Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur, who were locked in a struggle to control the Navy. MacArthur, in charge of the Seventh Fleet, wanted to unite it with the Army. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, wanted to remain autonomous. In the end, Nimitz had been given control of the entire Pacific naval operation, but friction between the two military titans still existed. Information about a ship's whereabouts, or other crucial facts, sometimes got lost in the fallout. This could mean trouble for the Indianapolis, which sometimes relied on the presence of carefully-timed escorts to protect her from enemy submarines and spirit her out of danger."

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Award of the Distinguished Service Cross to Brigadier General (Corps of Engineers) Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving as Chief of Staff, 42d Division, A.E.F., near Cote-de-Chatillon, France, October 14 - 16, 1918: As brigade commander General MacArthur personally led his men and by the skillful maneuvering of his brigade made possible the capture of Hills 288, 242, and the Cote-de-Chatillon, France, 14 - 16 October 1918. He displayed indomitable resolution and great courage in rallying broken lines and in reforming attacks, thereby making victory possible. On a field where courage was the rule, his courage was the dominant feature."

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. General MacArthur served with credit as Chief of Staff of the 42d Division in the operations at Chalons and at the Chateau-Thierry salient. In command of the 84th Infantry Brigade, he showed himself to be a brilliant commander of skill and judgment. Later he served with distinction as Commanding General of the 42d Division."

"I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the president. That's the answer to that. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal to General Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific since March 1942. Under extremely difficult conditions of terrain, climate and limited forces and material he expelled the enemy from eastern New Guinea, secured lodgments on the Island of New Britain and gave strategic direction to coordinated operations resulting in the conquest of the New Georgia Group and the establishment of the United States Army and Navy forces on Bougainville Island. He has inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and established his forces in positions highly favorable for the construction of offensive operations."

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Third Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Fourth Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility, during the period 20 October 1944 to 4 July 1945. As Supreme Commander of Allied Air, Ground and Sea Forces in the Southwest Pacific, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur planned and personally directed the campaigns which resulted in the liberation of the Philippine Islands. Strongly entrenched and superior enemy forces were overwhelmed and completely destroyed in a series of decisive operations and exploiting U.S. Air and Sea superiority, coupled with the resolute and courageous fighting of the Ground Forces. The immediate result of the campaign was control of the China sea, the isolation of Japanese Forces in Burma, Malaysia and Indo-China and the termination of coastwise traffic supporting the Japanese Armies in Central and South China. The liberation of the Philippines began with the landings on Leyte on 20 October in which complete strategic surprise was achieved. After bitter fighting under most difficult conditions of weather and terrain, General MacArthur destroyed the Japanese forces which included the noted 1st Division of the Kvantung Army. Again surprising the enemy, General MacArthur moved his forces boldly up the Western Coast of the main Philippine Island and effected a landing on the shores of Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945. The flawless execution of this hazardous amphibious approach and landing so disorganized the enemy that in a series of deep thrusts Manila was liberated on 25 February. The fortress of Corregidor fell soon afterward in a brilliantly conceived and directed combined land, sea and air operation. By the end of June only isolated groups of enemy remained in Luzon. While the United States SIXTH Army was so engaged, EIGHTH Army units cleared the enemy from the Southern Islands in a series of amphibious operations. By 4 July organized resistance had terminated, completing the liberation of the Philippine Islands and the 17,000,000 inhabitants from Japanese domination. More than 300,000 dead and 7,000 prisoners were lost by the enemy, our casualties in killed, wounded and missing totaling 60, 628. Seventeen of our divisions had opposed and defeated twenty-three enemy divisions. The air, ground, and naval forces worked in complete unison to inflict this crushing disaster on the Japanese Army."

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Fourth Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Fifth Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for distinguished service to the peoples of the United States and the Republic of Korea, and to the peoples of all free nations. Having been designated as the first field commander of United Nations armed forces, and directed, in the common interest, to repel an armed attack upon the Republic of Korea and to restore international peace and security in the area, he has given these forces conspicuously brilliant and courageous leadership and discerning judgment of the highest order. Having been compelled to commit his troops to combat under extremely adverse conditions and against heavy odds in order to gain the time so imperatively needed for the build-up of his forces for the counter-offensive, he has so inspired his command by his vision, his judgment, his indomitable will and his unshakeable faith, that he has set a shining example of gallantry and tenacity in defense and of audacity in attack matched by but few operations in military history. His conduct has been in accord with the highest traditions of the military service of the United States, and is deserving of the enduring gratitude of the freedom-loving peoples of the world."

"By the time of the surrender of Corregidor on May 6, MacArthur and his family had escaped to Australia under direct orders from President Roosevelt. (They left Corregidor in the PT boat of Lieutenant John Bulkely, who received the Medal of Honor for his many daring missions in the Philippines in the months from December 8, 1941 to April 10, 1942.) In ordering MacArthur to leave his command, President Roosevelt and General George C. Marshall, his Army Chief of Staff, made a political calculation. They reasoned that an inspirational figure planning a return to his command from Australia was a much more potent force than a dead hero in the Philippines. In Australia General MacArthur was presented with the Medal of Honor. MacArthur had been personally courageous in the face of the bombing attacks on Corregidor, but he did not get the medal for any single specified act of bravery. His award is one of the few of the war that could be described as "symbolic," in large part because MacArthur's Philippine army was an inspiration to the American people during those dark days. MacArthur himself acknowledged this when he accepted the medal, saying that he felt it was "intended not so much for me personally as it is a recognition of the indomitable courage of the gallant army which it has been my honor to command." (MacArthur's medal came seventy-eight years after his father, Arthur, earned a Medal of Honor for rallying Northern troops on November 25, 1863, at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, during the Civil War. Together the MacArthurs are the only father and son both to receive the Medal of Honor.)"

"Most importantly, in a fragile period of the American psyche when the general American public, still stunned by the shock of Pearl Harbor and uncertain what lay ahead in Europe, desperately needed a hero, they wholeheartedly embraced Douglas MacArthur—good press copy that he was. There simply were no other choices that came close to matching his mystique, not to mention his evocative lone-wolf stand—something that has always resonated with Americans."

"With his flamboyant headgear, his sunglasses and corn cob pipe, he looked like an actor playing the role of a great general. He also had the sort of press an actor likes; he arranged that, in part, by keeping his subordinates as anonymous as possible. But the truth was that Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, was a great general. He had one of the most distinguished military careers on record (top of his class at West Point, a hero in the first war, Army Chief of Staff), and it is doubtful that anyone in any of the services knew more about the Pacific theater. Nonetheless, the war that would be waged to return him to the Philippines, as he had promised, would be a Navy war, and [three admirals] — Nimitz, King, and Halsey — would have every bit as much to do with the strategy and tactics of winning that war as he had."

"Nothing but a damn bunch of bullshit!"

"It was a mistake ever to visualize a landing in force against the Japanese main islands. Such an attack would have cost us a tremendous number of lives and was not necessary. The Japanese lived by the sea, and once their Navy, shipping, and Air Force were destroyed it was certain that they could be starved into surrender. MacArthur and Nimitz could have maintained a tight blockade around the islands ad infinitum. Fortunately the war ended before OLYMPIC, the actual invasion of Japan, was ever mounted."

"I said, to the people of the Philippines whence I came, I shall return. Tonight, I repeat those words: I shall return!"

"Douglas MacArthur was the last great 19th century soldier, while George Marshall was the first great 20th century soldier."

"I see that the flagpole still stands. Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down."

"Even allowing for the failures, the disappointments, the scorn and rebuffs, wasn't MacArthur, as William Manchester claims, the greatest soldier in American history? Not in my view. MacArthur was too difficult a subordinate to be an entirely successful commander. He created far more problems for Marshall, Stimson, Roosevelt and Truman than any general has the right to make, especially in time of war. He also spent time and energy toying with political ambitions when everything that was in him should have gone into fighting the enemy. At best he was probably the second-greatest soldier in American history, second only, that is, to Ulysses S. Grant. And along the way he did lead the most adventurous and dramatic life in American history, which makes him a gift to biographers and a subject of enduring interest to Americans."

"During the year just past there came to this country from across the sea a man — a leader of men. He was a tall man, clear of eye, imposing in stature and lofty in mien who had met and wrestled with this "greatest scourge of mankind" and who understands fully the determining concepts and the motivating forces of international Communism. He shapes his every utterance, act and deed in consonance with this understanding. He is a man of such broad vision and knowledge that the Atlantic Ocean becomes merely a peaceful lake, although enclosed by the shores of continents, and the broad Pacific, a benign moat but on which can be carried the thriving commerce of billions of men. This man has such a knowledge of the historical past and such an insight into a divinely ordained future that he fashions the deeds of today to mesh with a tomorrow of one thousand years from now. This man is known to the world as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur."

"No man of our time is more authentically the voice of real America than Douglas MacArthur. To the millions who lined the streets of our great cities to cheer and weep as he passed by, he is the personification of the American tradition and history. As he rode up great avenues 'midst vast throngs, the people through misty eyes saw in him the noble leaders of the past- Washington, Lee, Grant. And when he addressed the Congress of the United States, once again Americans heard the great truths which many, starved for them, never expected to hear again, and those who never heard them before wept unashamedly. In this stalwart, romantic figure, the great hopes, dreams and ideals of our country come to life again. He stimulates renewed faith that the land of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln still lives in the hearts of the people. I shall never forget the light on General MacArthur's face and the deep feeling in his voice when he said to me — "They are a wonderful people — the American people — quick, impulsive, generous, whole-hearted! You can always trust in them and believe in them, for in their hearts they are good and true; in a crisis, they will do the right thing.""

"George Marshall may well have sighed at the results of the March 1945 poll- not at his own place but at MacArthur's. Marshall, more than most, knew the whole story of MacArthur's war. It is a mark of Marshall's own greatness that he so deftly managed MacArthur's fiery comet and unselfishly used its brilliance to accomplish the objectives of a global war."

"MacArthur's most obvious trait was his vanity, which is often seized on as if it were the key to the man. It seems to me, however, that while MacArthur was infuriatingly vain, was egotistical, was fascinated by himself, he was not in the deepest sense ego-driven. The motor that powered his ascent was his amazing willpower, the same willpower that made him control his body under fire, that made him study his way to the top at West Point, that made him impose his strategy on a reluctant government in World War II. MacArthur's parents had planted a vision of himself in the deepest, richest soil of his character. That vision never changed from childhood to old age. He had a destiny to fulfill. The thirst for medals, trophies, publicity, flattery and an adoring staff was vanity, but more than vanity. These were his compass bearings, the way he confirmed that he was on the right track to his destination. But it was implacable, inexhaustible will that was the engine taking him toward his goal. it was that will that made him a difficult subordinate and distanced him from other men — at times even distanced him from himself — yet it finally got him where he intended to go."

"On April 12, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific, was relieved of his command, stripped of all authority and ordered to leave Japan. He was dismissed with as little consideration as though he had been a new office boy found pilfering pennies from the cash register. Apparently it was intended that he be humiliated and that he return disgraced. General MacArthur had to his credit 52 years of loyal and unquestioned service. He was a soldier. He obeyed orders. He returned to his native land, but not as a broken, beaten soldier. He was a "Daniel come to judgement" — with a vibrant message that thrilled, inspired and re-created hope in the hearts of his countrymen. He began the task of revitalizing the nation."

"But he was still not finished. If his body was weakening, his mind remained strong, and in October he began to compose his memoirs. Sitting in he same chair, he filled hundreds of legal pads with virtually no cross-outs or erasures before he was finished the following August. The result of the ten-month marathon, Reminiscences, was pure MacArthur, and also an excellent summary of his life, if you weren't interested in his first marriage, which he left out entirely. But that didn't bother conservative publishing magnate Henry Luce, who bought the rights to be serialized in seven installments for Life magazine and then presented in book form, for a cool $900,000 (almost $8,000,000 in 2022). Reviews were predictably mostly anti-Mac, but the book sold well and probably earned Luce his money back. It was MacArthur's last kudo. Lifelong good health had taught him to avoid doctors, and by this time his liver was shot. There was nothing left but the one-way ticket to Walter Reed in early March 1964. he lasted just over a month, dying of biliary cirrhosis on April 5. No surprise, Doug left elaborate instructions for his funeral, which Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, only elaborated on, leading to a three-stage event. It began in Manhattan with a public viewing and televised procession wheeling the coffin to a special train, which then took it to Washington. There it lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, with 150,000 people filing past, before it was taken to Pinky's hometown, Norfolk, Virginia, where the old city hall had been turned into the Douglas MacArthur Memorial. Here, in an elaborate sepulcher, he was laid to rest, joined finally by Jean, who continued living in the Waldorf Towers until she died at the age of 101."

"Spent the entire day preparing drafts of president's messages to MacArthur and Quezon. Long, difficult, and irritating. Both are babies."

"I was still in Europe at the time. Truman said he had the authority to relieve him and he did it. I have never made up my mind whether he was right or not, but I happened to be with a British unit the night we learned of MacArthur's dismissal. The British had a brigade in Korea at the time and the British officers in the Mess were very anti-MacArthur and celebrating his demise. I think MacArthur was a magnificent general, but he became more and more insulated from the world by his staff, many of whom had been with him since the Bataan days. I think that was part of the problem. He was not a young man at the time of Korea. I think, perhaps, he got too dependent on his staff officers and certain things happened which were not in MacArthur's best interest... Even after MacArthur was relieved by the President of the United States he had a tickertape parade in New York City and he made two great speeches, one to Congress and one about Duty, Honor, Country. The Duty, Honor, Country speech is one of the greatest ever made by a military man, and he made it without a note at the age of seventy-five. I believe Douglas MacArthur in 1945 could have come home and run for president and won going away. He was worshipped at the end of the war."

"Douglas MacArthur has been dead for over fifty years yet he remains one of the most controversial military figures of the twentieth century. His well-polished reputation was far from unanimously accepted among his contemporaries, and a half-century has done nothing to smooth the contradictions of his personality and his career. There remains no middle ground with Douglas MacArthur."

"MacArthur carried with him an indomitable will to win. It was ingrained in his genes. It was his most laudable quality. There is, as he would say, no substitute for victory, a concept that was much clearer in World War II than it would become even five short years later in Korea. He fit the times perfectly. Douglas MacArthur's most important contribution to history was to be the hero who rallied America and its allies when they were at a low ebb and to become the symbol of determined resolve so desperately needed in the grim months of 1942. It was the role of a lifetime and, publicly, he played it brilliantly. That he came to believe more strongly through this experience in his perception of himself, and through this adulation judged it to be unequivocal, is to his discredit."

"Stepping off in Tokyo, I renewed an old acquaintance with General Douglas MacArthur, then Supreme Commander of the UN Forces. Ours really was an old acquaintanceship dating back to 1910, when my father, Charles C. Clark, then a major of infantry, was attending the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. MacArthur, then a first lieutenant of engineers, used to visit our house regularly, but at the time of the meeting in Tokyo I hadn't seen him for forty years. As we shook hands, MacArthur asked, "How's your mother? Give her my love; I'm a great admirer of hers." I knew that the general's courtly inquiry would please my mother, who has had her husband or son in every big shoot from the Spanish-American War to Korea."

"He carried a different level of prestige. I don't think anybody would fool with him. MacArthur was MacArthur and everybody was subordinate to MacArthur. For his part and with regard to leadership, MacArthur commanded a theater, and of course his responsibilities far transcended those of my dads. He was a superb leader and was probably the greatest general this country has ever produced."

"Not since the beginning of the war has a story been so overplayed and commercialized as General MacArthur's defense of Bataan. It is natural and desirable that we should play up the activities of our own generals and especially a general of the caliber of MacArthur. But in the interests of a well-informed public opinion it is essential that we maintain some semblance of proportion. What was gained by giving the impression that the arrival of General MacArthur in Australia foreshadowed the beginning of a great offensive against Japan? What is the point of carrying dispatches about Australia's being "built into a great Allied fortress"? How does one build into a "great Allied fortress" a continent almost exactly the size of continental United States? This kind of editing merely plays into the hands of our enemies... The defense of Bataan was doomed from the start, as every responsible newspaperman knew, yet many papers raised up the hopes by failing to put the story in its proper perspective. The defense of Bataan and the siege of Corregidor were comparable in this war to the siege of Tobruk, and they did not compare in importance to the defense of Malta. Yet who can tell the name of the commander who held Tobruk or the leader of the men at Malta?"

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Brigadier General (Corps of Engineers) Douglas MacArthur (ASN: 0-57), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving as Chief of Staff, 42d Division, A.E.F., in the Salient-du-Feys, France, 9 March 1918. When Company D, 168th Infantry, was under severe attack in the salient du Feys, France, General MacArthur voluntarily joined it, upon finding that he could do so without interfering with his normal duties, and by his coolness and conspicuous courage aided materially in its success."

"In fact, however, the "antagonism" was entirely one-sided, and never once did Marshall harm MacArthur either as a man or as a soldier. On the other hand, MacArthur seemed to take pleasure in damaging Marshall's career. It was he, while Chief of Staff during the interwar years, who had deliberately blocked Marshall's advancement. It was he who had sneered at his appointment as Chief of Staff when WWII began. It was Marshall he blamed for starving him of supplies during the Pacific campaigns, sneered at him as a chairborne soldier, a Roosevelt stooge. Then he would add, "And no friend of mine." Marshall must have known all about these snide remarks on MacArthur's part. Not only did he ignore them, but he never once allowed them to influence the respect in which he held the Far East commander or to deflect him from giving him all the support and protection of which he had need. Twice during WWII he saved him from what, for MacArthur, would have been a fate worse than death- obscurity."

"Because Douglas MacArthur disliked, mistrusted, and resented George Marshall it should not be thought that his prejudices were reciprocated. They were not, and maybe that was the trouble. For almost the whole of these two men's lives and professional careers, they had shared the same vocation, served in the same Army, fought in the same wars. Wherever in the world GI boots had stamped to attention, they both had taken the salute, watched a regiment march-past, celebrated a soldierly anniversary. There was no battlefield where U.S. troops had fought on which they had not ducked the same shellfire, dodged the same bullets, faced the same setbacks, savored the same victories. It was true that fate had ordained that it was MacArthur who commanded the vast armies in the field and Marshall who stayed behind to manipulate the martial pieces on the global chessboard. But if any envy had been engendered as a result, surely it should have been on Marshall's part. Like the director who masterminds the movements of crew, cameras, and cast, it was Marshall, the "organizer of victory," as Churchill called him, who might have been expected to show resentment when the limelight was focused elsewhere. By no word of gesture had he ever done so."

"The U.S. Navy hated MacArthur, really hated him. Early in the Pacific War it began agitating for an overall command in the area, the idea being to get MacArthur and his troops under its control. Believing Marshall to share their antipathy, the Navy enlisted his support and was delighted when he appeared to give it. "But on one condition," he said. "If we're going to have an overall commander in the Pacific, there isn't any question about it, you will have to pick MacArthur- on the basis of pure competence alone." The Navy abruptly abandoned the idea. Later, when the Navy wished to bypass the liberation of the Philippines in favor of operations against Formosa, it was Marshall who again intervened to insist MacArthur be allowed to fulfill his pledge to the Philippine people, to whom he had vowed, "I shall return." He was given the go-ahead to do so, and, of course, was hailed as the greatest hero of the Pacific war."

"Nine hours later, after other Japanese air attacks against northern Luzon were reported, several hundred Mitsubishi bombers and Zero fighters roared over Clark Field outside Manila and destroyed the bulk of American airpower in the Philippines — MacArthur's air force — as it sat on the ground. Even after years of increasingly hostile Japanese intentions and fair evidence that something was building to a head in the Far East, some might be tempted to forgive MacArthur for being the victim of a surprise attack. But how could he still have his airplanes lined up wingtip to wingtip nine hours after being notified of the attack on Pearl Harbor? Two days later, with the Philippine skies largely void of defending planes, another Japanese air attack destroyed the American naval base at Cavite. MacArthur "might have made a better showing at the beaches and passes, and certainly he should have saved his planes on December 8," a newly appointed brigadier general who had long served as the general's aide confided to his diary. "But," wrote Dwight D. Eisenhower, "he's still the hero." The man was clearly fallible, but the legend was not. In the dark days of early 1942, when rallying cries and heroes were in short supply, the legend had to be preserved at all costs. FDR knew it. Leahy appears to have blindly affirmed it. King, Nimitz and Halsey would all come to grips with it in their own ways. But for now, America desperately needed a hero, and Douglas MacArthur was the man of the hour."

"Popular perception has long suggested that FDR favored the Navy over the Army, but when it came to budgets, deployments, and promotions, he was evenhanded as a commander in chief. On an emotional level, however, Roosevelt's combination inspection-fishing-vacation trips — such as he enjoyed aboard the cruiser Houston — were among his favorite occasions. And his long-standing relationships with the Navy's admirals, particularly the duty-minded Leahy, made him more comfortable having them around. This contrast is underscored by remembering that the Army Chief of Staff from 1930 to 1935 was Douglas MacArthur. The general was still trying to emulate his father's advance up to Missionary Ridge during the Civil War, and his visits to the White House often took on the aura of a state visit. FDR was not intimidated by MacArthur — or anyone else — but neither was he terribly comfortable with him. When MacArthur left Washington for the Philippines and Malin Craig, whom Roosevelt did not know well, became Army Chief of Staff, it was only natural that Roosevelt gravitated toward the loyal and understated Leahy as his chief military adviser."

"Many years before Harry Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur, there was another prima donna general, the renowned John C. Frémont. For issuing orders authorizing the emancipation of slaves in Missouri without presidential permission, Lincoln fired him on the spot. As for MacArthur, he should have known better: the same thing had also happened to his own father. Back in the early 1900s, General Arthur MacArthur, military governor of the Philippines, made the stupid mistake of not recognizing the superior authority of the civilian governor, William Howard Taft, who later became president. Years later, when MacArthur's turn came to be promoted to Army Chief of Staff, Taft blackballed him."

"King remained unconvinced that the Philippines should be the principal force of a Central Pacific campaign. He, in fact, agreed with MacArthur that the original War Plan Orange made little sense, since there was no beleaguered American force in Manila Bay to rescue. The only thing in need of rescue was MacArthur's beleaguered reputation, and King saw no point in doing that either, since liberating Luzon would simply kill thousands of Japanese and Filipinos, not to mention American soldiers, without any important impact on Japan's air and naval power or industrial activity. King expressed his doubts by challenging the selection of Palau as an objective and pointing instead to Formosa as a safer place than the Philippines to interdict Japanese overseas trade."

"Bitterly disappointed by his defeat at the hands of the Chinese, MacArthur pressured the administration to accept his own war aims. Marshaling heroic rhetoric- "There is no substitute for victory"- the general conducted a political campaign to open Communist China to direct attack by his own forces and the Chinese Nationalists. He continued to hint darkly about the use of nuclear weapons, an option Truman never seriously considered. Incident mounted after incident: Indiscreet press conferences, unauthorized contacts with Chiang Kai-shek, inappropriate challenges to the Communists, provocative correspondence with veterans' groups and Republican congressional leaders, dark hints of treason by the UN allies, especially Britain. With the full approval of Acheson, the new Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, and the JCS, Truman finally relieved MacArthur and ordered him home in April 1951. Buoyed by his enthusiastic public reception and bathed in martyrdom, MacArthur took his case to Congress."

"The best and the worst things you hear about him are both true."