Evening star., 1951-04-11

Quence Gen. Macarthur had
freer hand than his colleagues
elsewhere, and something reason
ably intact to build on.
AS Supreme Commander for the
Allied Powers. Gen. Macarthur was
This is the fourth in a series from Johr
Gunthers new book. The Riddle ot
Macarthur.
an international official; the oc-
cupation Is an Allied occupation.
In theory at least he was respon-
sible Tin his soap capacity to 13
different nations, including Russia
But the United States is the only
substantial occupying force. 1t is
quite true that the British Com
monwealth had for time a strong
contingent of troops, and some
Australians are still present, but
there have never been any Rus
sian, Chinese. French or other
armies in Japan. If any such had
arrived in the early days they
would have been under Gen. Mac
Arthur's orders as Supreme Com
mander. and rather than accept
this the Russians (and the Chi
nese also) preferred not to send
any troops at all. Similarly. on
the civilian side, the whole
working force of soap is Ameri-
can. The occupation is Allied, .
but Americans constitute the only
personnel.
The successive steps out of
which this curious-and lucky
situation arose were the following
On July 26, 1945, came the Pots
dam Proclamation, which outlined
the terms whereon the Allies
would accept japanese surrender;
all subsequent. history of Japan
rests on this document. The Rus
slams were not at war with Japan
as of this date, and hence could
not sign the actual document.
though they adhered to it later.
On August 6 we dropped the first
atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and,
knowing that this would be the
coup de grace. Russia slid pre-
cipitously into the Far Eastern
theater by declaring war on Japan
on August 8. Japan surrendered
on the fourteenth after a vain at
tempt to bargain, and the actual
of surrender was
signed on the Missouri on Sep
tember 2. Gen. Macarthur signed
this document. not as representa-
tive Of the United States (the
signatory for the United States
was Admiral Nimitz), but as Su-
preme Commander on behalf Of
all the Allies.
Truman Took Unilateral Action.
Gen. Macarthur had been ap-
pointed Supreme Commander, "for
the purposes of receiving the sur
render and putting it into effect"
a few days before. So far as this
writer can discover President
Truman consulted nobody outside
his own immediate staff on
the Macarthur appointment. OF
course he was the obvious man
for the job. though the Navy
Admiral Nimitz. The other
interested countries, including
were simply notified that
the appointment had been made.
and Russia did not protest or COM
plain. So, in a flash, Gen, Mac
became what he has been
until today, Supreme Commander
Tor the Allied Powers. including
.he U. S. S. r.
On August Is, in order to get
some sort Of regime of control
fixed in advance, the United States
a group called the Far
Eastern Advisory Commission to
sit in Washington. The Russians,
perhaps realizing that they had
made a blunder in accepting Gen.
Macarthur, refused to sit on it,
and it never came to life. This
was a blunder, because it gave us
a complete free hand; we had the
ball now, and hugged it.
On August 29. Washington is
sued a major document which
the first policy direc-
tive to Macarthur, called United
States Initial Post-Surrender
Policy for Japan" The Russians
never saw this until it was pub
lished, nor did the other allies, but
It was under its principles that
Gen. Macarthur entered Japan.
Mechanism Setup in Moscow.
OF course this procedure, some
what hurried and arbitrary, had
to be regularized. So, in December,
1945, Secretary Of State Byrnes
went to Moscow for a tripartite
conference of foreign ministers.
(The United States, Great Britain,
and the Soviet Union were rep
resented; China and France were
excluded.) Here the mechanism
which still operates the occupa-
tion was set up.
First, a Far Eastern Commission
was established in Washington,
with II members; later when Bur-
ma and Pakistan became nations,
the II became 13. This commits
sion has the power to review" any.
decision made by soap. It meets
in the old japanese Embassy in
Washington, and several of its
members are distinguished men.
The Russians attended its meet
ings regularly until early in 1850.
But Mr.. Byrnes was prescient
at Moscow to retain i'm
portant provisos by which the
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