Evening star., 1951-04-08
Macarthur Ignores
Danger, Sees Himself
As Man Of Destiny
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Continued From First Page.)
resist the spontaneous impulse to
snatch the meat away as his chief
started to eat. Gen. Macarthur
simply ate.
Ordered Guns Put Away.
After signal and radio crews had
gone ahead. the party set out for
the enemy capital the next day in
the few cars available. Gen. Mac
Arthur saw several of his officers
carrying arms. PUT all guns
away" he said.
A few weeks later the Genera
returned to Atsugi to meet Mrs
Macarthur. who came with theii
son Arthur and his Chinese amah
(nurse), All Chu. There was nc
guard at all at the airport. The
General, unarmed, with one aide
unarmed. constituted the entire
reception committee. The group
drove back to Tokyo through the
broken streets. unlighted, and
menacingly deserted. isn't it dan
gerous?" Mrs. Macarthur whis-
pered. "Not at ALL" the General
smiled.
These episodes, minor as they
are, tell a good deal about Gen.
Macarthur. They demonstrate his
undoubted courage. his instinct
for understanding Orientals. his
simplicity in some respects, his
fatalism, his fixed sense of OBJ
jective, and something else that
has led him into danger on oc-
casion-a tendency to exaggerated
optimism. based on his unalterable
conviction that he is a man OF
destiny.
Some people in Japan. even aft-
er the occupation had been going
on for several months. did not
fully realize that Gen. Macarthur
was the boss. On January 4. 1916.
came the first purge" order. and
this wss a stark awakening. Three
or four members of the cabinet
had TO be dismissed, because they
had been militarists. i.e., war
criminals. before the war.
Decided to Risk Showdown.
The prime minister at the time
was the venerable Baron Kijuro
Shidehara. (Nowadays Baron Shi-
dehara is plain "Mr." Shidehara.
because titles have been abolished
in Japan except for few members
Of the royal family His foreign
minister was Shigeru Yoshida, the
prime minister today. Both, even
though they had opposed the war,
thought that the Macarthur
purge went too far, and. full of
Japanese pride and the instinct to
reach for every advantage, decided
to risk showdown with Gen.
Macarthur and announce the
resignation Of the cabinet in pro-
test.
In those days, before the new
constitution was in force, a Cabi-
net resigned in the conventional
manner by turning in it's mandate
to the Emperor. Shidehara, fear
full Of a personal encounter with
Gen. Macarthur, had a diplo-
matte illness" and sent the willy
Mr.. Yoshida to represent him. The
Supreme Commander received Mr..
Yoshida at once, with Gen.
Whitney present. Mr.. Yoshida
thereupon proceeded to say that
the Cabinet would present its res
ignation to the Emperor the next
day. and the Emperor would then
presumably charge Baron Shide-
hara with forming a new govern
ment.
Gen. Macarthur, affixing Mr..
YoShida with his famous burning
tbut cold stare. said the follow
ing: "Mr. Minister. I have the
highest regard for Baron Shide-
hara, and ] know of no one better
qualified to carry out the terms of
my directive (about the purge) !,
but If the Cabinet resigns en-
masse tomorrow it can only be
interpreted by the japanese peo-
pie to mean that it is unable
to implement my directives.
Thereafter Baron Shidehara may
be acceptable to the Emperor for
reappointment as Prime Minister,
but he will not be acceptable to
ME-" There followed, in the words
of an official account, "a moment
of profound silence" Mr.. Yoshida
said finally and falteringly that
he would transmit this message
to the Prime Minister; Gen. Whit
ney accompanied him down the
corridor to the elevator.
Cabinet Did Not Resign.
You understand what the Su-
preme Commander said, did you
not. Mr.. Minister" Gen. Whitney
asked politely.
Yoshida replied. TOO we'll, too
WE'LL"
The cabinet did not resign. The
purged ministers resigned, their
places were taken by others accept
able to Gen. Macarthur, and the
government continued carrying
out the Supreme Commanders
further orders. +
A somewhat subtle point arises
here. 1t might be thought that
the episode proves that as of that
date the japanese cabinet was
totally subservient to Gen. Mac
Arthur. Actually the General took
the course he did partly because
OF his policy to let the japanese
themselves run their own show and
deal with their own problems in
their own way SO far as possible.
Gen. Macarthur did not want to
become subject to the charge that
he had made. the cabinet resign.
He wanted it to continue in Office,
after 1t had purged itself. =.
But from that date to this, no
japanese prime minister or other
high ofhcial has ever dared to
take any major political step with
out carefully sounding out Gen.