The Words of the Eby Family

MacArthur

Lloyd Eby
April 20, 2000

About Gen. Douglas MacArthur:

My view of MacArthur is a complex one. I definitely think that he was what someone has called a world-historical figure: someone whose life and influence were so large that great historical moment hung on him and was propelled by him. Yet he had what I think were ultimately fatal flaws, primarily flaws of hubris.

In the case of the Pacific War and especially his emphasis on the importance of the Philippines he seems to have been largely right, in historical hindsight. Yet, as someone said, " X [I don't remember who it was] spent six months with MacArthur, learning theatrics." MacArthur was so consumed with the theatrics of his job an himself that this frequently obscured his real virtues and strengths.

In the case of Korea, MacArthur *may* (I stress the may) have been right, technically, in that the Chinese and the Russians were relatively weak at the time without much air support, so that if MacArthur had taken the war across the Yalu River into China with aerial bombardment north of the river, he could have won the entire Korean peninsula and kept the Chinese from mounting their counterattack.

The problem was that MacArthur forgot who was boss. In the American system the president -- for reasons that are essential in a democracy -- is the commander in chief. Thus, in order to accomplish his objectives (let's assume for the moment that those objectives were correct or true) MacArthur had the task of gaining the support of the American president Truman for whatever venture MacArthur thought would work or should be undertaken. But instead of working to gain the support of Truman, MacArthur had open contempt for him. (He said something to the effect that the general should have command -- meaning himself -- rather than the "temporary holders of that [presidential] office.") In fact, instead of going to Washington to meet Truman to make his case to the president, as MacArthur should have done, MacArthur made Truman travel across the Pacific to meet MacArthur, and even then MacArthur snubbed Truman by making him wait at their meeting place until MacArthur arrived. Even then, although Truman was seething at the snub not to him personally but to the office of the president, Truman bent over backwards to accommodate MacArthur. But when, shortly afterwards, Truman gave him a direct order and he defied it, Truman had to fire him.

Now, I don't know who was right about what would have been the right thing to do militarily in the situation of Korea/China at the time -- we'll never know because MacArthur did not get to do what he wanted to do. (In his history of the Korean War, Gen. Matthew Ridgway -- MacArthur's replacement -- argues strongly that MacArthur was wrong.) Perhaps if MacArthur had been allowed to do what he wanted, the Korean situation would have turned out differently and Korea would not have ended up divided.

But MacArthur failed to understand what his true mission was and to carry it out -- his real mission was twofold: (1) to have a correct or true military assessment of the situation and a plan that would succeed, and (2) to gain the president's support for that. He failed completely in that second mission, almost entirely because of his own hubris and arrogance.

Thus Truman had no choice but to fire MacArthur, and was completely right in doing so.

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