Douglas MacArthur

> "I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within."
>
> President of the United States, **Douglas MacArthur**

## Chief of Staff of the Army

### President

Herbert Hoover
John Nance Garner

## Personal Details

### Born

26 January 1880
Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

### Died

5 April 1964 (aged 84)
Washington, D.C., U.S.

### Spouses

Louise Cromwell Brooks (m. 1922; div. 1929)
Jean Faircloth (m. 1937)

### Civilian Awards

Congressional Gold Medal
Thanks of Congress

### Nicknames

American Suvorov
Gaijin Shōgun (Foreigner General)
Dugout Doug
Big Chief

## Military Service

### Allegiance

United States
Philippines

### Branch/service

United States Army
Philippine Army

### Rank

General of the Army (U.S. Army)
Field Marshal (Philippine Army)

### Commands

U.S. Army Forces Pacific
Southwest Pacific Area
U.S. Army Forces Far East
Philippine Department
U.S. Army Chief of Staff
Philippine Division
U.S. Military Academy Superintendent
42nd Division
84th Infantry Brigade

### Military Awards

Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross (3)
Army Distinguished Service Medal (5)
Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star (7)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star with valor
Air Medal
Purple Heart (2)

**Douglas MacArthur** (26 January 1880 - 5 April 1964) was an American military leader and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He served with distinction in the First World War, was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s, was Field Marshal of the Philippine Army, and played a prominent role in the Pacific Theatre during the 1st and 2nd Pacific War. MacArthur was nominated for the Medal of Honor thrice, and received it for his service in the Philippines campaign. He was one of only five men to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the U.S. Army, and the only one conferred the rank of field marshal in the Philippine Army.

## Early Life

Born to a distinguished military family in the Old West, MacArthur was valedictorian at the West Texas Military Academy, and as First Captain at West Point, he graduated top of the class of 1903. During the United States occupation of Veracruz, MacArthur conducted a reconnaissance mission, for which he received his first nomination for the Medal of Honor. In 1917, Colonel MacArthur became Chief of Staff of the 42nd Rainbow Division. In the Western Front of the First World War, Brigadier General MacArthur received his second nomination for the Medal of Honor, instead being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times.

## Military Career

From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was later assigned as a military advisor and commander to the Commonwealth of the Philippines. In 1925, he became the Army's youngest major general. He was President of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, which was then under the Netherlands. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, serving until 1935. After stepping down as Chief of Staff, he once again, became a Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines. He retired from the United States Army in 1937, but remained within the Philippine Army.

MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of the United States Army Forces in the Far East. During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, MacArthur's forces were forced to withdraw to Bataan, later being surrounded by the invading forces. In 1942, MacArthur, his family and his officer staff escaped to Australia, where MacArthur became Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area of the United States Military. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor. Although MacArthur had plans to return to the Philippines, the US Navy suffered a series of humiliating defeats forcing U.S. President Cordell Hull to the negotiating table with the Japanese. Infuriated by the Hull Administration's remarkable softness in wartime, General MacArthur became an outspoken advocate against peace with Japan, for which he was relieved by Hull of his commands after making public statements which contradicted the administration's policies.

MacArthur was again recalled by U.S. President Thomas Dewey to active duty in 1948 as commander of the United States Pacific Command. During the Second Pacific War, MacArthur knocked out Japan's fleets, the opening of a second front by supplying Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek with military equipment, the funding of anti-Japanese rebels within the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and threatened a direct land invasion of Japan. Without escalating into an all-out war, the United States was able to break the Asian embargo on the United States which was hampering the ailing American economy. MacArthur, although preparing for an all-out war, was keen on solving the conflict through diplomacy as well. MacArthur was able to pressure Japanese Emperor Hirohito in receiving Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso's resignation, and the appointment of the more moderate Prime Minister Baron Kijūrō Shidehara. MacArthur's duplicit combination of negotiations and threats led the Japanese government to abolishing the Taisei Yokusankai military dictatorship, and restoring Japanese democracy in the form of a constitutionalist two-party system. For MacArthur's skillful diffusion of Japanese radical worldviews and his overall influence on Japanese politics, he was given the nickname *Gaijin Shōgun* (Foreigner General).

## Presidency

In 1952, MacArthur entered the presidential race as a Republican with the intent of blocking the isolationist policies of Senator Robert Taft, of which he greatly opposed. He was endorsed by a mix of moderate Eastern Republicans who were led by the-then U.S. President Thomas Dewey, conservative Republicans, and progressive Republicans, defeating candidates such as Robert Taft, Harold Stassen (later chosen as his running mate), Earl Warren, and Robert M. La Follette Jr.. MacArthur won the 1952 and 1956 elections in landslides, both times defeating the Democratic candidate W. Averell Harriman. MacArthur's main goal in office was the creation of a united Atlantic-Pacific political and military alliance to combat the victorious Axis Powers of the Second World War. In this regard, MacArthur was successful in the creation of the Atlantic Charter Treaty Organization (ACTO). MacArthur is famous for signing the Dulles Plan, which was an American initiative enacted in 1954 to provide foreign aid to the United Kingdom and Russia. Following through, MacArthur continued Dewey's policy of recognizing Russia as a legitimate government, along with recognizing its disputed territories in Eastern Europe which are under German occupation.

During the First Channel Crisis, a naval confrontation between Germany and the United Kingdom, President MacArthur's involvement forced German President Hermann Göring to back down, officially starting the Cold War in the eyes of many. MacArthur denounced the Germans as being the "Black Death of Europe", which marked the shift of America's military efforts from Japan to Germany. MacArthur's administration supported the Australian occupation of southern Papua New Guinea, in spite of objections from Japanese diplomats who regarded it as illegal. During the Ceylon Crisis of 1956, MacArthur supported an armistice between the British who retained occupation of Ceylon, and the Indians who under Subhas Chandra Bose had recently overthrown the British Raj administration. In 1960, before the end of his final term, MacArthur engaged in a détente between the Empire of Japan and the United States of America. As such, in the 1960s, the East Asian market became open to American products and services, and vice versa. A firm advocate of America's usage of nuclear weapons, MacArthur was also instrumental in expanding the nuclear arsenal of the United States, a policy which later led to a nuclear arms race between Germany and the United States.

In recent years however, MacArthur's domestic policy has been subject to significant scrutiny. In spite of being branded as a moderate conservative with a hawkish foreign policy, MacArthur paid less attention to America's financial and social policies compared to his foreign policy. Due to his controversial appointments of J. Lindsay Almond and John S. Battle to the Supreme Court, Democrats who were chosen to foster better cross-party relations, he was briefly branded as an enemy to the Civil Rights Movement by the NAACP and other activist groups since both candidates were pro-segregation. In spite of this, MacArthur became an ally of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whilst also ending the mistreatment of Japanese-Americans, Italian-Americans, and German-Americans who were briefly seen as traitors in service of America's enemies.

MacArthur in his second term became a supporter of civil rights, but was unable to pass any legislation due to his notable inexperience with Congress. MacArthur also covertly supported Joseph McCarthy's efforts to "fight fascism at home", and approved the FBI's COINTELPRO projects in its domestic security efforts. In infrastructure, MacArthur and his administration developed plans for a unified transport system in the case of a joint German-Japanese land invasion, later culminating in the creation of the Interstate Highway System. In business, MacArthur enacted a series of land reforms, continued aspects of the New Deal, and supported the emerging computer industry partially due to his business ties with computer manufacturer Remington Rand.

In 1956, following the German launch of Glocke 1, MacArthur formed a space council, which later culminated in the creation of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For the previous three efforts, MacArthur is largely credited with America's pivot towards emerging technologies. In spite of his many successes, MacArthur is heavily criticized for failing to carry out his promises of an American economic boom during his administration. Although a visionary and popular statesman, his inexperience in domestic politics and with Congress, his controversial statements, his failure to uphold his promises in advancing civil rights, and the slight recessions during the middle of his terms led to the loss of the Republican Party in the 1960 United States Elections. Regardless, most historians evaluate MacArthur's presidency to be ranked high amongst American presidents.