WJHopwood
2014-04-25 22:56:23 UTC
Long lines.
The New York Times of April 25 contains a most interesting
review of two recently released books with conflicting viewpoints
regarding MacArthur's failures and achievements during WWII
and the occupation of Japan which followed, I believe most of us
who are WWII veterans will find that both books will re-awaken
old memories.
Titled the "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA--The
making of Douglas MacArthur," by Mark Perry (Apr. 1,2014),
and "SUPREME COMMANDER--MacArthur's Triumph in Japan,"
by Seymour Morris, Jr., (April 15,2014). these books tell of the
complicated and controversial evaluation of the "flamboyant"
MacArthur by his wartime military associates as well as by the
American public at large.
MacArthur was either despised or deified. Despised by much
of the military, brass with whom he was associated during the
war, for his narcissistic inability to share the limelight with
anyone, not even the combat commanders who helped him
what author Perry called" "the most successful air, land, and
sea campaign in the history of warfare." As for the public, it
was another matter, All but worshipped as a national hero
by most Americans, MacArthur was "bigger than life. One
who could play the part as if right from central casting.
Not so impressed, however, were the men of General Wainwright
who had been left behind on Bataan to surrender to the Japanese
and suffer the infamous Bataan Death March. By them, MacArthur
had been called, "Dugout Doug," for having visited their front lines
only once before leaving with his wife and small son in a Navy PT
boat for Australia. That part a bum rap inasmuch as he had been
ordered by FDR to do so. Indeed, Washington had portrayed his
retreat "not as an act of flight but a daring escape through Japanese
lines,"
After Pearl Harbor, Washington needed a "hero" of dimension in the
Pacific to boost public morale. For that, MacArthur was right out of
central casting. His contagious self-esteem, both during WWII and the
"Korean Emergency" thereafter, did the job--until fired by President
Truman who had had enough of MacArthur's ego which, in Truman's
view and despite the anticipated political uproar which followed, had,
to Truman, reached the point of insubordination. As military historian,
Mark Perry, writes in "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA,"
MacArthur was "...a commander whose occassional military genius
vied with an overwhelming ego that alienated his superiors in
Washington and led to his eventual downfall.
After WWII ended, MacArthur became a different man when selected
as head of the Allied forces for the occupation of Japan. As author
Seymour Morris, Jr. writes in "SUPREME COMMANDER," MacArthur
"set a standard for moral conduct toward an enemy who in war has
shown hardly any honor at all..(and introduced)..a flood of liberal
reforms aimed at transforming a feudal, militaristic country with no
tradition of individual liberties into a bastion of democracy.
For those interested the review of the books can be seen in full at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/books/review/supreme-commander-and-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140425&nlid=65401455&tntemail0=y
WJH
The New York Times of April 25 contains a most interesting
review of two recently released books with conflicting viewpoints
regarding MacArthur's failures and achievements during WWII
and the occupation of Japan which followed, I believe most of us
who are WWII veterans will find that both books will re-awaken
old memories.
Titled the "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA--The
making of Douglas MacArthur," by Mark Perry (Apr. 1,2014),
and "SUPREME COMMANDER--MacArthur's Triumph in Japan,"
by Seymour Morris, Jr., (April 15,2014). these books tell of the
complicated and controversial evaluation of the "flamboyant"
MacArthur by his wartime military associates as well as by the
American public at large.
MacArthur was either despised or deified. Despised by much
of the military, brass with whom he was associated during the
war, for his narcissistic inability to share the limelight with
anyone, not even the combat commanders who helped him
what author Perry called" "the most successful air, land, and
sea campaign in the history of warfare." As for the public, it
was another matter, All but worshipped as a national hero
by most Americans, MacArthur was "bigger than life. One
who could play the part as if right from central casting.
Not so impressed, however, were the men of General Wainwright
who had been left behind on Bataan to surrender to the Japanese
and suffer the infamous Bataan Death March. By them, MacArthur
had been called, "Dugout Doug," for having visited their front lines
only once before leaving with his wife and small son in a Navy PT
boat for Australia. That part a bum rap inasmuch as he had been
ordered by FDR to do so. Indeed, Washington had portrayed his
retreat "not as an act of flight but a daring escape through Japanese
lines,"
After Pearl Harbor, Washington needed a "hero" of dimension in the
Pacific to boost public morale. For that, MacArthur was right out of
central casting. His contagious self-esteem, both during WWII and the
"Korean Emergency" thereafter, did the job--until fired by President
Truman who had had enough of MacArthur's ego which, in Truman's
view and despite the anticipated political uproar which followed, had,
to Truman, reached the point of insubordination. As military historian,
Mark Perry, writes in "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA,"
MacArthur was "...a commander whose occassional military genius
vied with an overwhelming ego that alienated his superiors in
Washington and led to his eventual downfall.
After WWII ended, MacArthur became a different man when selected
as head of the Allied forces for the occupation of Japan. As author
Seymour Morris, Jr. writes in "SUPREME COMMANDER," MacArthur
"set a standard for moral conduct toward an enemy who in war has
shown hardly any honor at all..(and introduced)..a flood of liberal
reforms aimed at transforming a feudal, militaristic country with no
tradition of individual liberties into a bastion of democracy.
For those interested the review of the books can be seen in full at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/books/review/supreme-commander-and-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140425&nlid=65401455&tntemail0=y
WJH