Douglas MacArthur - Misplaced Pages

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This article is about the American soldier; for the municipality in the Philippines, see General MacArthur, Eastern Samar.

Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur in 1945
Allegiance	United States Army
Years of service	1903–1937, 1941–1951
Rank	General of the Army
Commands	Superintendent of West Point Department of the Philippines U.S. Army Forces Far East Supreme Allied Commander Pacific
Battles / wars	World War I World War II Korean War
Awards	Medal of Honor Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal Navy Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross Silver Star Bronze Star Purple Heart

Douglas MacArthur (January 26 1880 – April 5 1964) was an American general and medal of honor recipient, who was Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. He led the defense of Australia, and the recapture of New Guinea, the Philippines and Borneo. He was poised to invade Japan in November 1945 but instead accepted their surrender on September 2, 1945. MacArthur oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951 and is credited for making far-ranging democratic changes in that country. He led UN forces defending South Korea against a North Korean invasion in 1950-51. MacArthur was relieved of command by President Harry S. Truman in April 1951 for public disagreements with Truman's policies.

MacArthur fought in three major wars (World War I, World War II, Korean War) and rose to the rank of General of the Army. MacArthur remains one of the most controversial figures in American history. While greatly admired by many for his strategic and tactical brilliance, MacArthur was also criticized by many for his actions in command, and especially his challenge to Truman in 1951.

Early life and education

MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur Jr., a recipient of the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War, who was the son of jurist and politician Arthur MacArthur, Sr., and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur of Norfolk, Virginia. In his memoir Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote that his first memory was the sound of the bugle, and that he had learned to 'ride and shoot even before I could read or write--indeed, almost before I could walk and talk'.

As a child he moved around from fort to fort. As a youth he spent time in Washington with his paternal grandfather, Judge Arthur MacArthur, a member of the high-profile Washington political scene that influenced Douglas.

MacArthur's father was posted to San Antonio, Texas in 1893. There, Douglas attended Texas Military Institute (now known as T.M.I.: The Episcopal School of Texas), where he became an excellent student. MacArthur entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898. An outstanding cadet, he graduated first in his 93-man class in 1903, with only two other students in the history of West Point surpassing his achievements (Robert E. Lee being one). MacArthur became a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the next decade MacArthur was assigned to engineering duties in the Philippines, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan, Texas, and Panama. He served as an aide to his father in Manila and to President Theodore Roosevelt. He attended the Engineer School of Application (1906-1907), receiving a degree in 1908, and worked in the Office of the Chief of Engineers. In 1913-1917, MacArthur served on the general staff of the War Department, with detached-duty assignments on an intelligence mission to Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914. Under the command of General Frederick Funston MacArthur engaged in a long-range reconnaissance mission behind Mexican lines. Although cited for bravery and recommended for a Medal of Honor, his actions had clearly violated Funston's orders.

World War I

During World War I MacArthur served in France, as chief of staff of the 42nd ("Rainbow") Division. Upon his promotion to Brigadier General (the youngest ever in the Army), he became the commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade. A few weeks before the war ended he became division commander. During the war, MacArthur received two Distinguished Service Crosses, seven Silver Stars, a Distinguished Service Medal, and two Purple Hearts. By far the most decorated American soldier in World War I, Douglas MacArthur made it his policy to 'lead my men from the front'.

Inter-war years

MacArthur kept his star after the war primarily because of the support of General Peyton March, the new chief of staff. In 1919 MacArthur became superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which was out of date in many respects and much in need of reform. MacArthur ordered radical changes in the tactical, athletic, and disciplinary systems; he modernized the curriculum, adding liberal arts courses. From 1922 to 1930, MacArthur served two tours of duty in the Philippines, the second as commander of the Philippine Department (1928-1930); he also served two tours as commander of corps areas in the states. In 1925 he was promoted to major general, the youngest officer of that rank at the time, and served on the court-martial that convicted Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. In 1928 he headed the U.S. Olympic Committee for the Amsterdam games.

He married Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brooks, a wealthy heiress, on February 14, 1922; she had two children from a previous marriage. They were divorced in 1929. President Herbert Hoover appointed MacArthur army chief of staff in November 1930, with the temporary rank of (four-star) General. He faced severe budget cuts, at the same time there was a surge in enrollments because of unemployment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt renewed his appointment. In October 1935, the army ranked sixteenth in size among the world's armies, with 13,000 officers and 126,000 enlisted men. MacArthur's main programs included the development of new mobilization plans, the establishment of a mobile general headquarters air force, and a four-army reorganization which improved administrative efficiency. He supported the New Deal by enthusiastically operating the Civilian Conservation Corps. He brought along many talented mid-career officers, including George C. Marshall, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. His most controversial actions came in 1932, when Hoover ordered him to disperse the 'Bonus Army' of veterans who were in the capital protesting against the government. MacArthur received negative publicity for using tear gas against the veterans. According to MacArthur, the demonstration had been taken over by Communists and pacifists by the time of his action, with, he claimed, only 'one man in ten being veterans'. Hundreds of veterans were injured, two were killed, and other casualties including children were inflicted among the veterans' families.

When the Commonwealth of the Philippines achieved semi-independent status in 1935, with its own army, the President of the Philippines Manuel L. Quezon asked MacArthur to supervise the creation of a Philippine Army. With Roosevelt's approval MacArthur accepted the assignment. Among MacArthur's assistants as Military Adviser to the Commonwealth of the Philippines was Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On April 30, 1937, MacArthur married his second wife, Jean Faircloth; they had one son, and remained together until his death.

When MacArthur retired from the U.S. Army in 1937, he was made a Field Marshal of the Philippine Army, by President Quezon. In July, 1941 Roosevelt recalled him to active duty in the U.S. Army and named him commander of United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), based in Manila.

World War II

After the United States entered World War II, MacArthur became Allied commander in the Philippines. He "courted controversy" on several occasions, especially when he over-ruled his air commander, General Lewis H. Brereton, who had requested permission to launch air attacks by the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) against Japanese bases on nearby Taiwan, a plan that MacArthur had labeled suicide. MacArthur instead ordered the planes to be moved, to conserve them from Japanese raids; only half had been when FEAF was all but destroyed on the ground, the prelude to a Japanese invasion.

His headquarters during the Philippines campaign of 1941-42 was on the island fortress of Corregidor; his single trip to the front lines in Bataan led to the disparaging moniker and ditty, "Dugout Doug." Nevertheless, MacArthur's fortress was clearly marked, and was the target of Japanese air attacks, until Manuel Quezon cautioned MacArthur "not to subject himself to danger". In March 1942, as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to relocate to Melbourne, Australia, after Quezon and his wife had already left. With his wife and four-year-old son, and a select group of advisers and subordinate military commanders, MacArthur at last fled the Philippines on PT-41 commanded by Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, and successfully evaded an intense Japanese search for the escaping American general.

MacArthur reached the island of Mindanao on March 13, and boarded a B-17 bomber three days later; on 17 March, he arrived at Batchelor Airfield in Australia's Northern Territory, and took The Ghan railway through the Australian outback to Adelaide. His famous speech, in which he said "I came out of Bataan and I shall return", was made at Terowie, South Australia on March 20. During this period, President Manuel L. Quezon decorated MacArthur with the Philippine Distinguished Conduct Star.

MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA). To remove all ambiguity, the Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin put MacArthur in direct command of the Australian military, which numerically dominated MacArthur's forces at the time, augmented by a small number of U.S., Dutch and other Allied forces. One of MacArthur's first missions was to reassure Australians, who apprehended a Japanese invasion. The fighting at this time was predominantly in and around New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. On July 20, 1942 SWPA headquarters was moved to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, taking over the AMP Insurance Company building (later known as MacArthur Central).

Australian successes at the Battle of Milne Bay and the Kokoda Track campaign came in late 1942, the first victories by Allied land forces anywhere against the Japanese. When it was reported that many officers in the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division, a hastily-mobilized National Guard unit, had proved incompetent in the Allied offensive against Buna and Gona, the major Japanese beachheads in north-east New Guinea, MacArthur told the U.S. I Corps commander, Robert L. Eichelberger to assume direct control of Allied operations:

Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders; if necessary, put sergeants in charge of battalions and corporals in charge of companies ... Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive ... And that goes for your chief of staff, too.

During 1943 and early 1944, MacArthur was ordered by the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff to implement a new Allied grand strategy, known as Operation Cartwheel, which aimed to isolate the major Japanese base at Rabaul and let the forces there "wither on the vine", as well as taking strategic points to use as forward bases. In the process, increasing numbers of US Army forces arrived in the theater, including the Sixth Army (a.k.a. Alamo Force), and later the Eighth Army.

MacArthur coming ashore in the Philippines in 1944.

Allied forces under MacArthur's command landed at Leyte Island , on October 20, 1944, fulfilling MacArthur's vow to return to the Philippines. They consolidated their hold on the archipelago in the Battle of Luzon after heavy fighting, and despite a massive Japanese naval counterattack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. With the reconquest of the islands, MacArthur moved his headquarters to Manila, to plan the invasion of Japan in late 1945. The invasion was pre-empted by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in September, 1945 MacArthur received the formal Japanese surrender which ended World War II.

MacArthur was awarded and received the Medal of Honor for his leadership in the Southwest Pacific Theater. Philippine President Sergio Osmeña also decorated him with the Philippines' highest military award, the Medal of Valor.

Post-World War II Japan

After World War II, MacArthur served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP). His first responsibility was overseeing the reconstruction, re-organization and re-supply of the people (most of them were nearly starving) in Occupied Japan. Though it was officially an effort of the Allies, the US was firmly in control, and MacArthur was effectively the leader of Japan during this period. In 1946, MacArthur's staff created the constitution that is in use in Japan to this day and has greatly contributed to the stability and prosperity of the country. MacArthur handed over power to the newly-formed Japanese government in 1949, and remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman on April 11, 1951. Truman replaced SCAP leader MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway of the US Army.

In late 1945, Allied military commissions tried 4,000 Japanese officers for war crimes. About 3,000 were given prison terms and 920 were executed; the charges included the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and the sack of Manila. Some critics say that the main Japanese commander in the Philippines General Yamashita Tomoyuki had lost control of his soldiers and should not have been executed. However he did not resign his post and therefore retained command responsibility; this case has become a precedent and is known as the Yamashita Standard. PBS has called the trials "hasty"

Korean War

Main article: Korean War

After the surprise attack on MacArthur's army in June 1950 started the Korean War, the United Nations General Assembly authorized a United Nations (UN) force to help South Korea. MacArthur led the UN coalition counter-offensive, noted for a daring and overwhelmingly successful amphibious landing behind North Korean lines in the Battle of Inchon. The maneuver successfully out-flanked the North Korean army, which had been trying to annihilate the surrounded and cut-off American forces remaining in Korea. The North Korean forces, containing Chinese soldiers and Russian and Chinese pilots flying Russian-made jets, fled and retreated north, pursued by the Americans and their military allies.

As MacArthur's forces approached the Korea-China border, the Chinese warned that they would become involved, rather than watch the North Koreans be defeated. During his trip to Wake Island to meet with President of the United States President Harry S. Truman, MacArthur was specifically asked by President Truman about Chinese involvement in the war. MacArthur did not care for the danger, advising absolute defeat for the North Korean forces, and famously-advising, "There is no substitute for victory." On November 25, 1950, Chinese military forces attacked across the Yalu River, forcing the U.N forces to enter on a long retreat. MacArthur repeatedly requested authorization to strike Manchuria and major Chinese cities with thirty to fifty nuclear weapons, an action which Truman and the State Department feared would draw China's ally, the Soviet Union, into the conflict. Angered by Truman's desire to maintain a "limited war," MacArthur began issuing important statements to the press, warning them of a crushing defeat. In March of 1951, after a painfull U.N. counterattack commanded by Matthew B. Ridgway turned the tide of the war in the U.N.'s favor, Truman alerted MacArthur of his intention to initiate 'cease-fire' talks. Such news ended any hopes the general had retained of leading a full-scale war against China, and MacArthur quickly issued his own ultimatum to Red China. Mocking the Chinese lack of military power and industrial strength, MacArthur's declaration threatened the expansion of the war, and was by his own aide's later admission 'designed to undercut' Truman's negotiating position. Such an act unquestionably qualified as rank insubordination, and was so contrary to MacArthur's long and distinguished military service that General Omar Bradley later speculated that MacArthur's disappointment over his inability to wage war on China had "snapped his brilliant but brittle mind." On April 11, 1951 President Truman relieved General MacArthur of his military command. General Matthew B. Ridgway replaced MacArthur and stabilized the situation near the north 38th parallel.

Return to America

MacArthur returned to Washington (his first time in the continental US in 11 years), where he made his last public appearance in a farewell address to the U.S. Congress, interrupted by thirty ovations. In his closing speech, he mused: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." 'And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away - an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-bye.'

On his return from Korea, after his relief by Truman, MacArthur encountered massive public adulation, which aroused expectations that he would run for the US presidency as a Republican in the 1952 election. However, a U.S. Senate Committee investigation of his removal, chaired by Richard Russell, contributed to a marked cooling of the public mood and MacArthur's presidential hopes died away. (MacArthur, in his Reminiscences repeatedly stated that he had no political aspirations.)

In the 1952 Republican presidential nomination contest, rumors were rife that Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio offered the vice presidential nomination to MacArthur. Had a Taft-MacArthur ticket defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in November, the general would have become President upon Taft's sudden death eight months later in July 1953. Taft, who was initially favored to win the GOP nomination, lost the nomination to Dwight Eisenhower. MacArthur later became head of the Remington Rand Coporation.

MacArthur spent the remainder of his life quietly in New York, except for a spectacular "sentimental journey" to the Philippines in 1961, when he was decorated by President Carlos P. Garcia with the Philippine Legion of Honor, rank of Chief Commander. During one of his visits, a section of the Pan-Philippine Highway was renamed to MacArthur Highway in his honor.

President John F. Kennedy solicited MacArthur's counsel in 1961. The first of two meetings was shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. According to White House staffer Kenneth P. O'Donnell, MacArthur was extremely critical of the Pentagon and its military advice to Kennedy. MacArthur also cautioned the young President to avoid a U.S. military build-up in Vietnam, pointing out that domestic problems should be given a much greater priority. Kennedy was said to have come out of the more than three-hour meeting 'stunned' and 'enormously impressed'.

Death and legacy

MacArthur and his second wife, Jean Faircloth, are entombed together in downtown Norfolk, Virginia; their burial site is in the rotunda of a memorial building/museum (formerly the Norfolk city hall) dedicated to his memory, and there is a major shopping mall (MacArthur Center) named for him across the street from the memorial.

The couple's son changed his surname and now lives anonymously as a saxophonist in the New York area.

MacArthur's nephew, Douglas MacArthur II (a son of his brother Arthur), served as a diplomat for several years, including the post of Ambassador to Japan and several other countries.

Summary of service

West Point

June 13, 1899 – appointed as a Cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
1900: Is the victim of hazing and becomes involved in a serious scandal where one Cadet is left dead by upperclassman abuse. Maintains his honor, and does not appear as a snitch, by only naming cadets who hazed him who were already expelled from West Point or had previously confessed
June 1903 – Graduates first in his class, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers

Early career

June 1903: Serves with the 3rd Battalion of Engineers in the Philippine Islands.
1904: Assigned to the California Debris Commission.
April 1904: Promoted to First Lieutenant, becomes acting Chief Engineering Officer for the Army Pacific Division based in San Francisco, California
October 1904: Reports to Tokyo, Japan to serve as an aide to his father (Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.) in the Far East
December 1906: Serves as aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt
August 1907: Attends the "Engineering School of Application" in Washington, DC
February 1908: Assigned as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Improvements Commission, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 1908: Appointed as Commanding Officer, Company K, 3rd Battalion of Engineers. Later that year becomes an instructor at the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas
April 1909: Becomes Quartermaster for the 3rd Battalion of Engineers
February 1911: Promoted to Captain and serves as the Officer-in-Charge of the Engineering Depot at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
November 1912: Assigned to the General Staff Corps, for duty as a Member and Recorder of the Board of Engineering Troops
April 1913: Appointed as Superintendent of State, War, and Navy Buildings as a member of the General Staff
April 1914: Becomes the Assistant Engineering Officer of the military expedition to Veracruz, Mexico
December 1915: Promoted to Major, serves as an Engineering Officer on the Army General Staff
August 1917: Advanced to the temporary rank of Colonel in the National Army. Reports to Camp Mill, Long Island, New York to begin forming the 42nd Infantry Division.

World War I

1917 - 1918: Becomes Chief of Staff of the 42nd Infantry Division and is credited with naming it the "Rainbow Division". Joins the American Expeditionary Force bound for France
June 1918: Appointed a Brigadier General in the National Army and serves as Divisional Chief of Staff, 84th Infantry Brigade, and is later appointed as the Divisional Commander
1918 - 1919: Cited for extreme battlefield bravery and also is wounded in combat and gassed by the enemy. Was known for personally leading troops into battle, often without a weapon of his own. Begins to develop a negative relationship with General of the Armies John Pershing, after feeling that Pershing is wasting the lives of his troops with bad military tactics.
May 1919: Returns to the United States a hero, but is distraught over the lack of recognition his Rainbow Division receives for actions in France.

Inter-war years

June 1919: Becomes the Superintendent of the US Military Academy, West Point
February 1920: Reverts to peacetime rank, but is one of the few officers who does not lose his World War I position. Becomes a brigadier general in the Regular Army. Receives a negative evaluation report from Pershing, now Chief of Staff, who ranks Macarthur 38 out of 45 generals and states that MacArthur has an "exalted view of himself and should remain in his present grade for several years".
October 1922: Becomes Commanding General, District of Manila, in the Philippines
July 1923: While still serving as District of Manila Commander, also becomes Commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade
January 1925: Promoted to Major General, becoming the youngest two-star general in the U.S. Army. Returns to the United States to become a Corps Commander
May 1925: Assigned as IVth Area Corps Commander, U.S. Army, encompassing areas of Atlanta and Georgia
1926 - 1927: Serves as 3rd Corps Commander, based in Baltimore, Maryland
1928: Leads the US Olympic Team to Amsterdam and is then assigned as the Commanding General, Philippine Department, based in Manila.
October 1930: Becomes the commander of the Ninth Corps Area based in San Francisco, California
November 21, 1930: Appointed as a full General and becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army
June 1932: Presides over the destruction of the "Bonus Army", deemed a low point of his tenure as Army Chief of Staff
October 1935: Completes his tour as Chief of Staff and declines retirement from the Army. Per Army regulations, reverts to his permanent rank of Major General and becomes the Chief Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines
December 31, 1937: Decides to retire from the United States Army. Is advanced back to the rank of General for listing on the U.S. Army retired rolls

1937 - 1941: Civilian advisor to the Philippine Government on military matters. Is appointed a Field Marshal in the Philippine Army, the only American officer in history accorded with that rank. Begins wearing the cap which is so often associated with him, that being a Field Marshal cover with U.S. Army crest
April 1937 - marries Jean Faircloth
February 21, 1938 - Arthur MacArthur IV is born

World War II

July 26, 1941: Recalled to active service in the United States Army as a Major General
July 27, 1941: Appointed Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States and becomes Commanding General of USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East)
December 1941: Japanese attack and defeat US Air Force in Philippines
December 1941: promoted to General in the Army of the United States
December 1941-May 1942; retreat to Bataan and Corregidor in face of Japanese invasion
February 1942: Roosevelt orders MacArthur out of the Philippines; MacArthur promises, "I shall return."
1942 - 1943: rebuilds Australian morale; begins the reconquest of the island of New Guinea
1943 - 1944: argues with the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding reconquest of the Philippine Islands. Chiefs propose bypass; MacArthur appeals to President Roosevelt.
October 1944: lands at Leyte and begins reconquest of Philippines
December 1944: Becomes a General of the Army and is ranked the second highest ranking officer of the U.S. Army, second only to George Marshall
1944 - 1945: Due to logistics issues the Joint Chiefs decided to invade the Philippine Islands. MacArthur again must fight to convince his superiors to invade the entire Philippine Islands, whereas initial plans call for only an invasion of the south. The Joint Chiefs at last agreed that MacArthur is to invade the Philippine Islands at Leyte Gulf and strike towards Manila.
February 5, 1945: MacArthur fulfills his promise to return and liberates Manila
Summer 1945: in Manila to plan invasions of Japan in October, 1945. Is stunned when the atomic bomb ends the war abruptly, quoted that "this apparatus will make men like me obsolete".
September, 1945: Presides over the surrender of Japan and becomes military governor of Japanese home islands. Threatens the Soviet Union with armed conflict should Red Army soldiers attempt to occupy any part of Japan.

Occupation of Japan

December 15, 1945 - Orders the end of Shinto as the state religion of Japan
1945 - 1948: Begins sweeping reforms, drafts a new constitution for Japan, and puts an end to centuries of Emperor god-worship

Korean War

July 8, 1950: Following the invasion of North Korea into South Korea, MacArthur is named Commander of all United Nations forces in Korea.
July 31, 1950: Travels to Taiwan and conducts diplomacy with Chiang Kai-Shek
September 15 1950: Leads UN forces at the Battle of Inchon, seen as one of the greatest military maneuvers in history
October 15 1950: Meets with President Truman on Wake Island after heavy disagreements develop regarding the conduct of the Korean War. When meeting Truman, it is very noticeable that MacArthur does not salute his Commander-in-Chief but rather offers a handshake
November - December 1950: With China committed to all-out war against the US on the Korean peninsula, MacArthur advocates for the same in return against China but is prohibited. He is outraged when military leaders in Washington restrict the war to only the Korean theater, meaning that he cannot bomb even the bridges of the Yalu river over which Chinese troops, supplies, and material are streaming across. He is further restricted from bombing their bases in Manchuria. MacArthur expressed his outrage later, saying that "The order not to bomb the Yalu bridges was the most indefensible and ill-conceived decision ever forced on a field commander in our nation's history."
April 11, 1951: After several public criticisms of White House policy in Korea, which were seen as undercutting the Commander-in-Chief's position, Harry Truman removes MacArthur from command and orders him to return to the United States. Truman put up with MacArthur's high profile for some time, however, and he may have in fact exchanged MacArthur for a sound nuclear policy in Korea since he did not trust the "Brass Hat MacArthur" with nuclear weapons.
April 19, 1951: At a farewell address before Congress, MacArthur gives the famous Old Soldiers Never Die speech
May 1951: Retires a second time from the U.S. Army, but is listed as permanently active duty due to the regulations regarding those who hold Five Star General rank. For administrative reasons, is assigned in absentee to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff

Later life

1951 - 1952: Loses a great deal of public support after Senate hearings investigate into why MacArthur was relieved and it is revealed MacArthur had advocated a full scale war with China and, if necessary, nuclear war in the Korean conflict. Historical documents revealed after the fact that MacArthur was right about the Soviet Union not being inclined to intervene in such an event, however, due in part to Stalin's declining health.
1952: Runs for President on the Republican platform. Is distraught when his former aide, Dwight Eisenhower secures the Republican nomination and later becomes President of the United States. He could still have conceivably won nomination at the convention after he delivered the keynote address, except that Senator Robert Taft of Ohio would not transfer his delegates to him.
January 1955: Is nominated by the United States Congress for promotion to General of the Armies. Declines the promotion as it would have meant a loss of retirement pay and benefits associated with being a Five Star General.
May 12 1962 - Gives famous Duty, Honor, Country valedictory speech at West Point
April 5 1964: Douglas MacArthur dies at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Dates of rank

Second Lieutenant, United States Army: June 11 1903
First Lieutenant, United States Army: April 23 1904
Captain, United States Army: February 27 1911
Major, United States Army: December 11 1915
Colonel, National Army: August 5 1917
Brigadier General, National Army: June 26 1918
Brigadier General rank made permanent in the Regular Army: January 20 1920
Major General, Regular Army: January 17 1925
General for temporary service as Army Chief of Staff: November 21 1930
Reverted to permanent rank of Major General, Regular Army: October 1 1935
Retired in grade as a General on Regular Army rolls: December 31 1937
Recalled to active service as a Major General in the Regular Army: July 26 1941
Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States: July 27 1941
General, Army of the United States: December 18 1941
General of the Army, Army of the United States: December 18 1944
General of the Army rank made permanent in the Regular Army: March 23 1946

In 1955, a bill passed by the United States Congress authorized the President of the United States to promote Douglas MacArthur to the rank of General of the Armies (a similar measure had also been proposed unsuccessfully in 1945). However, due to regulations involving retirement pay and benefits, as well as MacArthur being junior to George C. Marshall (who had not been recommended for the same promotion), MacArthur declined promotion to what many view would have been seen as a Six Star General.

Awards and decorations

During his military career, General MacArthur was awarded the following decorations from both the United States and other allied nations. The awards listed below are those which would have been worn on a military uniform and do not include commemorative medals, unofficial decorations, and non-portable awards.

Decorations

File:MacArthurRibbons.jpg

Recreation of Douglas MacArthur's awards as they would today appear
(does not include all foreign decorations)

Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross with two oak leaf clusters
Army Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Flying Cross
Silver Star six(6) silver oak leaves
Bronze Star Medal with Valor device
Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster
Presidential Unit Citation with 1 silver and 1 bronze oak leaf cluster
Air Medal
Philippine Campaign Medal
Mexican Service Medal
World War I Victory Medal with five battle clasps (Aisne-Marne, Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector)
Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
American Defense Service Medal with “Foreign Service” clasp
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two silver service stars and arrowhead device
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal with “Japan” clasp
National Defense Service Medal
Korean Service Medal with three bronze service stars and arrowhead device
United Nations Service Medal
Command Aviator Badge
Army General Staff Identification Badge
Fourteen Overseas Service Bars
Expert Badge with Rifle and Pistol bars

Foreign awards

Trivia

MacArthur had no middle name, though some Internet sources variously ascribe him a middle initial of "A", "B", "C", "D", "M", or "S". An archivist at the MacArthur Memorial asserts that MacArthur did wear a monogrammed handkerchief with a middle initial of "A", possibly chosen to indicate his father, but the general had no official middle name.

Arthur and Douglas MacArthur were the first father and son to each be awarded a Medal of Honor. They remained the only pair until 2001 when Theodore Roosevelt was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service during the Spanish American War. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. had won one for his service during World War II.

While MacArthur was famous for smoking a corncob pipe, in private he actually preferred cigars.

MacArthur was considered a very good bridge player, and played often during his years in Australia.

There are two bridges and one road named after MacArthur in Taiwan, becoming one of the only three foreigners (to Taiwan) who has somewhere named after them. (The other two are Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and George Leslie Mackay.) The road is located in Taipei, although it is renamed now. The two bridges remain fully functional to this day.

In 1945, MacArthur gave his treasured Gold Castles insignia, a personal possession, to his chief engineer, Major General Leif J. Sverdrup. They are currently worn by the Chief of Engineers as a tradition, and formed the basis for the "castle" logo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The large MacArthur Central plaza in downtown Brisbane, Australia, is named after MacArthur and has as its logo the five stars of his rank. His HQ was located on the site during WWII.

Douglas MacArthur was dismissed in 1951 by President Truman in dispute over U.S. policy toward China during the Korean War. Arthur MacArthur, Jr., who fought Geronimo, was relieved of his command, by President Taft, for insubordination.

An episode of the television series M*A*S*H entitled "Big Mac" featured MacArthur as part of its storyline; MacArthur himself, being deceased at the time, did not appear. (While the show was about Korea, and while MacArthur died in 1964 - the same year as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident - the show's premiere was held in the early 1970s.)

MacArthur's height was 6'5".

MacArthur had a particular attachment to the Philippines. This began with his father's tenure as the military governor of the nation and later his own. His "I shall return" declaration as Allied troops left it to the conquering Japanese is famous. MacArthur appeared to have a genuine affection for the nation, having spent a good deal of his life there; his mother had died there. It was the only country he visited after his dismissal.

MacArthur Park located in western Los Angeles, California is named after General MacArthur. The park was also the basis of the song of the same name written by Jimmy Webb.

A street, MacArthur Drive, is named after him in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A boulevard, MacArthur Boulevard, is named after him in Springfield, Illinois.

A street, MacArthur Boulevard, and a section of Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, is named after him. A local subway station in Oakland is named after him as well.

MacArthur was featured in the Fictional Novel Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson as a supporting character.

MacArthur was distantly related to both Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

A statue of MacArthur built at Inchon Harbour in Korea in 1957 has become a site of contention between youger leftist generations who consider him a war criminal whose statue should be removed and older veterans groups who consider him a hero and symbol of all Korean and UN forces who died. Skirmishes between the two groups have forced the Korean government to protect the statue with troops of late.

References & Notes

Notes

Philip R. Piccigallo, The Japanese on Trial: Allied War Crimes Operations in the East, 1945-1951 U Texas Pess; The Tokyo War Crimes Trials (1946-1948), PBS (accessed April 21, 2006)

Bibliography

United States Army service record of Douglas MacArthur, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri
McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0671869205
James, D. Clayton. The Years of MacArthur Volume I, 1880-1941 (1970) (ISBN 0395109485); The Years of MacArthur: vol. 2 1941-45 (1975); (ISBN 0395204461); The Years of Macarthur: Volume 3: Triumph and Disaster 1945-1964 (1985)(ISBN 0395360048); Houghton, Mifflin. the stanadard biography
Leary, William M. MacArthur and the American Century: A Reader. University of Nebraska Press: 2001. ISBN 0803229305. essays by historians
Leary, William M. We Shall Return!: Macarthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942-1945 (1988)
Long, Gavin Merrick; MacArthur as Military Commander (1969)
Richard Lowitt; The Truman-MacArthur Controversy (1967)
David W. Lutz; "The Exercise Of Military Judgment: A Philosophical Investigation Of The Virtues And Vices Of General Douglas Macarthur." Journal Of Power And Ethics Vol 1, Issue: 1. 2000. pp 68+
Manchester, William. American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964. Laurel: 1983. ISBN 0440304245.
Perret, Geoffrey. Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life and Legend of Douglas MacArthur. Random House: 1996. ISBN 0679428828.
Nathan Prefer; Macarthur's New Guinea Campaign (1995)
Eugene L. Rasor; General Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography Greenwood Press, 1994
Schaller, Michael. Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General. Replica Books: 2001. ISBN 0735103542.
Howard B. Schonberger; Aftermath of War: Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945-1952 Kent State University Press. 1989.
Taaffe, Stephen. Macarthur's Jungle War: The 1944 New Guinea Campaign. University Press of Kansas: 1998. ISBN 0700608702.
Valley, David J. Gaijin Shogun: General Douglas MacArthur, Stepfather of Postwar Japan. Sektor Company: 2000. ISBN 0967817528.
Dennis D. Wainstock; Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War Greenwood Press, 1999
Weintraub, Stanley. MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero. Free Press: 2000. ISBN 0684834197.
Robert Wolfe; Americans as Proconsuls: United States Military Government in Germany and Japan, 1944-1952 Southern Illinois University Press, (1984)

Primary sources

MacArthur, Douglas. Reminiscences. United States Naval Institute: 2001. ISBN 1557504830.
General MacArthur: Letters from the Japanese During the American Occupation. Rowman & Littlefield: 2001. ISBN 0742511154.
Paul P. Rogers; The Good Years: MacArthur and Sutherland Greenwood Press. 1990, vol 1; vol 2: The Bitter Years: MacArthur and Sutherland (1991). Sutherland was MacArthur's chief of staff, and Rogers was a junior staffer

External links

The MacArthur Memorial - The MacArthur Memorial at Norfolk, Virginia
MacArthur Museum Brisbane - The MacArthur Museum at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
MacArthur - a site about MacArthur from PBS.

Preceded bySamuel Escue Tillman	Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1919–1922	Succeeded byFred Winchester Sladen
Preceded byCharles P. Summerall	Chief of Staff of the United States Army 1930–1935	Succeeded byMalin Craig
Preceded by—	Military Governor of Japan 1945–1951	Succeeded byMatthew B. Ridgway

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