Hi Cthia,
It doesn't sound like your sister and her friends might be as informed as she thinks.
MacArthur certainly had an ego but he certainly wasn't crazy, and he could be brilliant when he wanted to be, including avoiding making a decision even when pressed by his staff.
After his speech failed at the republican convention, some of Ike's buddies were making some jokes at MacArthur's expense, Eisenhower responded by pointing out if MacArthur came through the room's door, look them in the eye and tell them all to follow him, they would all get up and follow him without a question or a murmur, despite the fact they were all now civilians.
I've related some examples of MacArthur's ego in Japan over the years here, but space and time don't permit an extended rehash here.
L
cthia wrote:**quote="lyonheart"**Hi Cthia,
MacArthur didn't act like he was president, but he disregarded presidential wishes and desires, NTM 'misinforming' him of his intentions, which is rather a bad no-no for an officer in a democratic country, though the fate of someone doing that in an autocratic country is far worse.
MacArthur had a history of talking down to the senior US Army officers in the Pentagon for years, who were now his ostensible superiors but who had been very junior to him when he went to the Philippines before WW2, which my dad who was on MacArthur's staff at the time in Japan witnessed; 'advising them that their rules and regulations were faulty, so he and everyone in his command would be doing something different along these lines-, and you and the rest of the army might want to change and do the same as we are in SCAP [Supreme Command, Allied Powers; his command in Japan], sincerely, etc, etc'.
More unfortunately for MacArthur however, he ventured into expressing political opinions, and among other things insisted the Chicoms wouldn't enter the war, when they were already crossing the border, with some rapidly becoming POW's, NTM advancing his forces into North Korea, which Truman had not approved at the Wake Island conference, but acquiesced after the fact.
There is quite a bit more involving the use of nuclear weapons and the nationalist Chinese, but Truman was more than justified in relieving him, though some of his remembrances of MacArthur's supposed harshness to General Wainwright [who surrendered at Corregidor] for his TV series were flawed, but few were willing to point that out because 'Truman always told the truth'.
L
cthia wrote:Jonathan_S wrote:**quote="cthia"**
You know, that half-pay status crap always made me consider the possibility of that happening to the US. Could our best Naval officer be beached in the middle of an important war, for something just as politically poignant?
Don't know about our Navy, but General MacArthur was rather famously fired by President Truman during the Korean War.
Being wrong about the changes of China intervening and then disputes about how to prosecute the war. (MacArthur wanted to nuke China plus pull the Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan into it. Truman vetoed that; forcefully)
MacArthur was very popular and Truman's action wasn't; at least at the time. But I don't know if something similar could happen for purely personal dislikes or domestic politics.**quote**
**quote="Cthia"**
Thanks for the filler Johnathan. I knew that he was fired, I heard my sister and some of her 'politicos' friends discussing something once when it came up. She said that MacArthur didn't respect the President and in many ways acted as if he was the President. Of course that was all topical ointment. I didn't remain anywhere near that discussion to hear her out. They discuss politics for hours!**quote**
I simply think the whole thing is sad. He's thought of as a military genius. My sister said that his genius bordered insanity. I personally think MacArthur felt that he was intellectually superior to everyone.
My niece says that a swollen ego causes an enlarged head which results in a loss of intelligence due to the shrinking brain to head ratio.
**quote**
