Macarthur, Douglas
(1880–1964), U.S. military leader. Asia was central to the career of Douglas MacArthur, one of the most celebrated, yet controversial, U.S. military leaders. He had four tours of duty in the Philippines between 1903 and 1942. A visit to military installations in eleven Asian countries in 1905–1906 as an aide to his father, Lt. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, Jr., convinced him of the importance of Asia to America's future.
Asia was the site of MacArthur's worst defeats and greatest victories. Commanding U.S. and Filipino forces, MacArthur was unable to defend the Philippines against the Japanese invasion in 1941. Ordered to Australia by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, he declared, "I shall return." Implementing a brilliant island-hopping strategy that avoided Japan's main forces, MacArthur made good on his promise, landing on Leyte island in October 1944.
As supreme commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, MacArthur oversaw the rebuilding of Japan and the establishment of democracy, laying the foundation for Japan to become a major industrial nation. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, MacArthur was appointed commanding general of U.N. forces. His amphibious landing at Inchon turned the war against North Korea. MacArthur's push to the Yalu River, however, brought China into the war and led to a policy dispute with President Harry Truman. Relieved of command in April 1951, MacArthur returned to the United States to a hero's welcome.
Further Reading
James, Clayton D. (1970–1980) The Years of MacArthur. 3 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Manchester, William. (1978) American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964. Boston: Little, Brown.
Petillo, Carol M. (1981) Douglas MacArthur: The Philippine Years. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Spanier, John W. (1965) The Truman-MacArthur Controversy and the Korean War. New York: W. W. Norton.
Weintraub, Stanley. (2000) MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero. New York: The Free Press.
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