Evening star., 1951-04-10


er son. Mr.. Roosevelt's charactel
and he loved to talk: ditto Gen
the military proprieties. Their,
may be occasions when he com
municates secretly with the Presi
dent, over anybody's head; nobod.
would know except a few sigma
officers and technicians. Mostly
however. he proceeds. "by thu
book" After all. as I heard it said
HE himself helped write tht
book"
No Second Man in Organization
One striking-indeed unprece
dented-point is that Gen. Mac
Arthur has no deputy either a
soap or CINCFE. There is n,
second man in the Macarthur
Organization, and never has been
Since July 8, 1850, he has beer
United Nations commander in tn,
Korean fighting. under the blu'
and white United Nations flag.
Gen. Macarthur is not head o.
state (the Emperor Isl but he as.
sumes several of the functions oI
a head of state. The government
of Japan has, for instance, NJ
relations whatsoever with the out!
side world except through soap
A foreign diplomat assigned te
Tokyo is accredited. not to the
Emperor. but to soap, and it il
Gen. Macarthur. not the EN-.
peror. who receives ambassadors
heads of missions, and the like
He is a kind of baby sitter fol
the entire nation.
In blunt fact. Gen. Macarthur
authority is so great and his
powers so sweeping that he is the
actual ruler of Japan. The man.
ner Of rule If often indirect, and
a semitransparent facade is care
fully maintained behind which
Japanese authority is exerted in
many fields. but he is in fact the
all-powerful boss of SO million
japanese, and will remain so un-
til a peace treaty is signed. Oc-
casionally he has been overruled
by Washington. but not often
Ex-Secretary Of War Kenneth
by appealing to Mr.. Tru-
man, twice at least compelled
Gen. Macarthur to withdraw OF
modify directive. And we know
that Mr.. Truman not only over
ruled but rebuked him about For
mosa. But in relation to Japan
itself. the General is seldom
touched. The language of the
document appointing him Su-
preme Commander leaves nc
doubt as to his powers: he is the
sole executive authority for the
allies concerned.
you will exercise your author.
ity as you deem proper to carry
out your mission" he was in.
formed on September s, 1945
Our relations with Japan do not
rest on a contractual, basis, but
on an unconditional surrender
Since your authority is supreme
you will not entertain any ques.
ton on the part of the japanese
as to its scope"
Operating through the chan
nels of the Japanese government
itself, Gen. Macarthur by a single
word can outlaw from public life
any Japanese: he can disband any
Japanese political party, order
new elections, dissolve parliament
set aside the government, anc
rule by direct military order II
necessary. Constitutional author.
tiles differ on the question
whether or not he could actually
fire the emperor.
Powers of this formidable ma.
lure are unique IN American his.
tory, and it is a tribute to Gen
Macarthur that he has used then
with such moderation. No Amer.
ican has ever held quite the jot
Gen. Macarthur holds. Not tn,
least amazing fact is that hi
reached this unprecedented power
through series of circumstance!
partly haphazard and fortuitous
Tomorrow: HoiD Macarthur
Became Supreme Commander of
All Allies
From the book. THE RIDDLE
OF MACARTHUR, published by
Harper & Bros.
(copyright. 1950-1951, BY John Gunther J