I know Japan has this weird MacArthur=US Military fixation, but the USN and the US Army did not see eye to eye(and still don't). MacArthur especially had no fans within the US Navies' top brass, and they would of gladly sunk their own ships before placing them under his command.
I know Japan has this weird MacArthur=US Military fixation, but the USN and the US Army did not see eye to eye(and still don't). MacArthur especially had no fans within the US Navies' top brass, and they would of gladly sunk their own ships before placing them under his command.
...it's not weird. He was there at the signing of Japan's surrender, and he oversaw the Allied / US occupation of Japan all the way until 1949 when the US finally turned control of Japan back to the Japanese people. On top of that MacArthur actually didn't leave the country until 1951 when Truman told him to come home.
Yeah, for a guy who earned the epithet of "Gaijin Shogun" by the Japanese after his death, I don't think their fixation with him is weird in the slightest.
I thought gaijin shogun was just something western reporters called him, not the Japanese themselves.
In any case, he's still a polarizing figure to this day in America. My friend's grandpa was a Marine on Guadalcanal, still alive and kickin, and still bitter about dugout doug. On the other hand, my actual grandpa (RIP) adored him.
I don't remember my great uncle's opinion (also RIP) who survived the Bataan death march, but he probably had a weird one, because he was a wonderfully weird person (thought pro wrestling was real, carried a typewriter throughout the whole death march because he was the company clerk and they told him he'd be in trouble if he ever lost it)
I thought gaijin shogun was just something western reporters called him, not the Japanese themselves.
In any case, he's still a polarizing figure to this day in America. My friend's grandpa was a Marine on Guadalcanal, still alive and kickin, and still bitter about dugout doug. On the other hand, my actual grandpa (RIP) adored him.
Probably because he was a polarized person in his life. He had moments of brilliance marred by equal moments of ego and stupidity. This is probably true of most men like him really, but he liked the spotlight a bit more then most which made it more obvious, and his fall from grace post war led to a bit less white washing of his faults in popular history. (I have a feeling Patton for instance would be a much more mixed figure if he had survived post war.)
As one of his staff said: "The best and the worst things you hear about him are both true."
Laferno1 said:
I know Japan has this weird MacArthur=US Military fixation, but the USN and the US Army did not see eye to eye(and still don't). MacArthur especially had no fans within the US Navies' top brass, and they would of gladly sunk their own ships before placing them under his command.
That relationship was hardly unique, or new really, when a fight ends up taking place extensively in coastal areas scuffles over command and politics between the navy and army are common, perhaps inevitable.
Also if we're going to talk about assholes in high places we can't ignore the Navy side of things here. MacArthur's biggest enemy at the navy was Ernest King and if you know any history of that era you know he was a grade A dick himself at times. His opposition was really as much power play dick waving as anything, he thought the Pacific should really be a navy show first and foremost so it didn't really have matter who the army had put fourth, he would have been a dick about it. MacArthur and other naval leaders seemed to get along considerably better him and Halsey in particular seem to have hit it off.
MacArthur never actually really commanded ships though, he had ships assigned to his theater command, but they had there own admirals that actually planned and utilized them and he could really only recommend things within the broader framework of the theater. He commanded a 'fleet' only in so much as the Navy attached a force specialized in littoral and amphibious operations to his overall command on a continuing, long-term basis.
Spruance got along with almost every other flag rank officer... except Towers. I'm gonna have to look up what the deal with that was one of these days.
He's idolized in places like the Philippines since he made good on his promise of "I shall return" and liberated them. That's probably his shining moment and went downhill from there.
> He had moments of brilliance marred by equal moments of ego and stupidity.
He had a career of virtually uninterrupted egomania, incompetence, and Napoleonism. Even his one legitimately great accomplishment, Incheon, was immediately half undone by his ineptitude and self-promotion during the battle of Seoul. (And the truth is the Norks had so battered themselves against the Naktong perimiter that they were poised for an epic collapse even without the flanking maneuver.) He is generally regarded as one of the all-time worst military leaders in American history.
He is generally regarded as one of the all-time worst military leaders in American history.
By whom? I mean, he's got some serious competition, and generally, the award goes to people like "threw an easy victory away when he ran away from some rabble shouting in the woods" McClellan, or his even-worse predecessors.
Ach!Ｎｉｃｅ ｔｏ ｍｅｅｔ ｙｏｕ～'Face', you say?Here's a face for 'ya.Shut your pie hole, toothbrush.You dare show your face here?!smuuuugYou're that Schweinehund MacArthur!I'll be in your care starting from today, 'kay!You're acting high-and mighty for someone with no mustache!
