wdolson
Posts: 10398
Joined: 6/28/2006 From: Near Portland, OR Status: offline
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At the end of WW II MacArthur was the best known and most liked general in the US. He was quite long in the tooth when the war started. He became a general in June 1918, in 1932 he commanded the breaking up of the Bonus Army which was a sit in by veterans demanding their WW I bonuses as the Depression had put many of them out of work. He served as Army Chief of Staff too then retired in 1937 to become a civilian advisor to the Philippine Government. He was retired the first time as a 4 star general, but reactivated in 1941 as a 2 star. I believe he was the only general in the Army who could tell George Marshall, "I've done your job..." He was one of the most senior, if not the most senior. Every general who is considered "great" had flaws. Both Patton and MacArthur were publicity hounds. Other generals who were as good but didn't seek the spotlight have largely been forgotten. MacArthur was focused intently on getting back to the Philippines, but strategically it really wasn't necessary. Once the US had enough carriers, the Central Pacific strategy would have gotten the US to Japan without the PI sideshow. Capturing the PI did close off the SRI to the Japanese and furthered the stranglehold on Japan, but an earlier assault on Okinawa would have probably done the same job with fewer casualties and less commitment of troops. MacArthur's tenure as the governor of occupied Japan was quite good. He did well getting the Japanese economy rebooted and even though the Japanese surrendered unconditionally and the US had originally intended to eliminate the emperor's job, he was wise enough to see the value in keeping the emperor. That made the occupation much smoother. The successful occupation of Japan was the lowest troop to population ratio in modern history. It's the only one that had a ratio of less than 20 soldiers per 1000 population. Part of it was Japanese culture, but credit can go to MacArthur for playing a good hand well. MacArthur's reputation began to slide soon after Truman fired him. As I've heard it MacArthur was open to escalating the war with China into a full nuclear war and that's essentially why Truman fired him. Thanks to the 1970s movie Patton is much better known and liked today than MacArthur was. MacArthur was a complex figure. He did break up a peaceful protest with military force in 1932. When he lived in the Philippines he lived kind of like a 3rd world el presidente. His villa in Manila was quite lavish, but it was badly damaged in 1945 during the recapture of Manila. His record on inspiring troops was a bit mixed. People tended to either like him or hate him and those who didn't like him weren't inspired by him one bit. He insisted on a strategically unwise campaign to go back to the PI and got his way. His war record is pretty good, Operation Cartwheel was a vastly complex operation, but few people study it today because it was pulled off with no hitches. His campaign up the north side of New Guinea and into the PI was very effective too. After the war he was a very effective military governor, and his record in Korea was mixed. He bailed the UN forces out of a very difficult bind, but he wanted to expand the fight to a major war with an emerging, but very large power who was closely allied with the USSR at that point. Militarily possible, but diplomatically a poor call. It's no clear cut. Bill
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