More on Beware Generals Bearing a Grudge

["Craven, Jim" <JCraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

I recall that Truman described Macarthur's farewell address to Congress
as "100% pure bullsh*t", which was probably accurate.

Macarthur was a winner and a bastard.. He's even less favourably
remembered in Australia --- for most of 1942, most of his land forces
were Aussies, and from his office in Melbourne he rode them hard,
considering they were overwhelmingly made up of reservists and/or
conscripts (the regular army being mostly in the Middle East and in POW
camps in Malaya at the time). Even though Australians achieved the first
clear land victory in the theatre (at Milne Bay), as soon as Macarthur
gained enough US troops he virtually disregarded his non-US land forces
(allegedly reluctant to share the "glory").

regards,

Grant.

PS

Response Jim C: Add to his long list of crimes, MacArthur was
instrumental in shielding many Japanese "Class-A" war criminals
including those from the infamous Unit 731 in China in return for these
criminals turning over their "research" on chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons using live human subjects including U.S. and allied
prisoners of war. Like another general, also a malignant narcissist,
megalomaniac and control freak--General Patton--MacArthur put leading
Japanese fascists back into power in postwar Japan as Patton had done
with nazis in postwar Germany ( no, it wasn't simply a matter that the
fascists were the only ones with requisite "skills" for postwar
reconstruction).

Then there was the opening fire and killing of bonus marchers (in direct
violation of an order given by "Commander in Chief" Herbert Hoover) in
1932 who had come to Washington, D.C. to protest not being given the
"bonus bonds" promised them for service during World War II. Then there
was the staging of his "courageous exit" from the Philippines and covert
lobbying for the Medal of Honor he thought he deserved and desperately
wanted as his own father Arthur MacArthur (another malignant narcissist
and megalomaniac who ran the Philippines as Governor like a slave
plantation)had obtained. He publicly rebuked General Wainwright for not
fighting to the death in the Philippines, yet used a presidential order
as a cover (he had violated many presidential orders previously and did
so subsequently in Korea) for his own escape from the Philippines. When
he gave his famous "I shall return" shit, he was asked by a reporter:
"General, shouldn't it be We shall return?" to which the asshole replied
"I don't see the point." in a rather imperial and dismissive fashion.

Of all the major U.S. generals, this creature was probably the lowest
scum of the bunch. Many of his crimes, such as his involvement in the
plot to overthrow FDR and set up a fascist dictatorship in the U.S. are
only now partly coming to light. My own father used to say, and he also
called him "dugout Doug", that had he seen him in the field (MacArthur
was his theater commander) he would have likely tried to put a bullet or
two into him as was done in some cases with career-climbing officers and
non-coms who needlessly risked the lives of troops for their own glory
and from their own positions of relative safety. See "An American
Caesar" (film or book) for more details.

Jim C.