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| MacArthur |
This
is a fair assessment to some extent. But some of the negative
anecdotes were probably invented by his critics who were many or
added unwittingly. I'll mention two stories to make my point.
A
few months after the Pearl Harbor attack, FDR and General George
Marshall (Army Chief of Staff under FDR, the most famous son of
Uniontown, PA) ordered MacArthur to escape from Philippines to
Australia and the army was turned to General Jonathan Wainwright, who
eventually surrendered at Corregidor and who languished as a
prisoner-of-war for three years and whose troops underwent the
notorious Bataan Death March.
 |
| MacArthur handed pen to Wainwright |
There
was an article on NY
Times (November
16, 1964) reporting a TV series of “Decision: The Conflicts of
Harry S. Truman”, in which Truman claimed MacArthur snubbed the
released Wainwright, treating him in cavalier way.
{of
note, Cavalier is originally the supporters of King Charles I during
the English Civil War, it is now used as “in a high handed,
arrogant or supercilious manner”; it must be the work of Parliament
supporters. That is to say MacArthur treated the just released
Wainwright with contempt and disdain.}
NY
Times 11/16/1964: TRUMAN RECALLS WAINWRIGHT SNUB; Asserts MacArthur
Treated General in Cavalier Way.
General
MacArthur was at lunch at the time, Mr. Truman says. “General
Wainwright walked in on him and started to salute and talk to him.
MacArthur—instead of asking him to sit down and have lunch—he
said, ‘General, I told you I'd see you at 3 o'clock! I'll see you
at that time.’
It
didn't happen that way. In William Manchester's American Caesar:
Douglas MacArthur, we read that Wainwright arrived when Douglass
was having a second dinner in the hotel (after his arriving at Tokyo)
and MacArthur greeted him right away. (see the
scanned copy from the book below.)
The
only time President Truman and MacArthur ever met was at Wake Island
on October 15, 1950. In the mid-1970s two TV specials on the Wake
meeting depicted MacArthur behavior toward Truman as insulting. But
nothing could be further from the truth. The following is from
David's McCullough's TRUMAN.
In
William Manchester's American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur we
also read similar story:
“MacArthur
arrived several hours before Truman, slept, bathed, dressed,
breakfasted, and was on field at 6:30 A.M. Ready to greet the
President thirty minutes before the Independence
landed.”
The
book also has detailed how the author Merle Miller spread the untrue
stories. Using a tape recorder Merle Miller interviewed Truman, I
believe, in 1961-62. It was later (1974) published as an oral
biography of Truman: Plain Speaking. Some said Truman then
began to “slow down, even slip
a little,” especially to those who had known him from the
years past in White House and in Independence and Kansas City.
But
Merle Miller was apparently willing to exploit Truman to make
sensational story. Miller said, “My
God, he [Truman] is not old at all.” Truman indeed lived
another 10 years or so after the initial interviews. But he has
since passed away (1972), when Plain Speaking was published in
1974 and the TV specials were run in mid-1970s.
I
hate to say Truman didn't tell the truth, but telling the untruth he
did. David McCullough had a better assessment in his TRUMAN.
“Truman
still told stories wonderfully and with an infectious enjoyment. He
was also inclined to exaggerate, even invent.
Miller was reminded of Huck Finns comment about Mark twain. “He
told the truth, mainly. There were things which he stretched, but
mainly he told the truth.”
It
was said that President Truman disliked all generals especially those
coming from West Point (the military academy that he tried to get in
but couldn't), the only exception that I know is Omar Bradley, who
was also at the Wake meeting.
It
is well known that Truman despised and prejudiced against MacArthur,
in Truman's diary, we read, “Don't
see how a country can produce such men as Robert E. Lee, John J.
Pershing, Eisenhower and Bradley and at the same time produces
Custer, Pattons, and MacArthur.” Truman often called
MacArthur “Mr. Prima Donna”, “Brass Hat”, “Five-Star
MacArthur” and “a play actor and bunco man”.
In
David McCullough's TRUMAN we read, “Of
Eisenhower, he could hardly say anything without resorting to
profanity.” What Truman told Merle Miller about the story
of Eisenhower and Kay Summersby [Ike's war time chauffeur, a British]
had no base. Trust me I read several books regarding this topic some
years and was sure what Truman said was fiction. This is also the
opinion of many credible historians. I mention this to back up my
assertion that Truman was telling the untrue story intentionally or
not.
I
read it somewhere:
“when
Merle Miller sat down with Truman to take Plain
Speaking, his 'oral
biography' of Truman, who was then fast approaching senility, the
former President would claim that Ike had written to Marshall
requesting permission to divorcing Mamie and marry Kay, and that he
and the Army Chief of Staff had discussed the matter, agreed it was
out of the question, warned Ike that they would destroy his career if
he went ahead, and then destroyed the letter.”
The NY Times book review article of “American Caesar” has a title of “A Brilliant but Flawed Conqueror,” which is a fair assessment of MacArthur. American Caesar though he might be, he is a patriot known to have “extraordinary physical courage, towering intelligence, rigidly disciplined devotion to duty.” His island-hopping strategy and campaign saved lots of American lives.
The NY Times book review article of “American Caesar” has a title of “A Brilliant but Flawed Conqueror,” which is a fair assessment of MacArthur. American Caesar though he might be, he is a patriot known to have “extraordinary physical courage, towering intelligence, rigidly disciplined devotion to duty.” His island-hopping strategy and campaign saved lots of American lives.
