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TOKYO -- When this column called for readers' opinions in a poll about
one year ago on the question "Who was the most influential American in
Asia in the 20th century," the response was very lopsided.
General Douglas MacArthur, whose leadership was felt throughout the
region but particularly in The Philippines-Japan-Korea, was the clear
winner.
Next were former Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
A new book by Pennsylvania State University historian Stanley
Weintraub focusing on the first 11 crucial months of the war --
"MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero," (The Free
Press, New York, 2000, US$27.50) -- highlights MacArthur's mistakes and
the flaws in the
general's personality and character.
It is supposed to be a sort of literary expose, I guess.
But Weintraub's meticulous research in looking for points on which to
criticize MacArthur
has come up with material which presents a more human MacArthur -- warts
and all -- than the harsh,
one-dimensional characterizations of other biographers.
Weintraub quotes some of MacArthur's contemporaries in what seem like
reasonable criticism.
A dust-jacket blurb by James Tobin, who wrote "Ernie Pyle's War" goes
too far: "Stanley Weintraub shatters the graven image of MacArthur as the
great American warrior of the era. The man whom Harry Truman lampooned as
'God's right-hand man' emerges as a supreme windbag well past his prime,
and a myopic commander whose strategic priority was public relations."
Many at the Pentagon felt that they were fighting two wars
simultaneously, and that MacArthur was winning both, Weintraub noted,
explaining the fluctuating headlines.
"Reds On The Lam" headlinded the Washington Daily News. On seeing the
banner, the new Dutch
ambassador, J. Herman van Roijen, presenting his credentials to President
Truman, asked his State Department escort, John Simmons,"What does that
mean -- On The Lam?"
Unable to improvise a diplomatic definition, Simmons replied, "It is,
I believe, the name of a river in Korea."
Before I forget it, if you want to see how others of MacArthur's
countrymen regard him, head for Norfolk, Virginia. A restored city hall
and courthouse house the MacArthur Memorial and Library. A three-day
commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the start of the Korean War will
be held in Norfolk September 15-17.
Events will include a reenactment of the September 15 Inchon landing,
regarded as a strategic
master stroke, and a highlight of MacArthur's career.
And keep in mind that more than 5.7 million American men and women
served during the Korean War, more than 33,000 died in action, 103,000 were
wounded and 8,207 were prisoners of war or reported missing in action.
Since we are in the U.S. presidential campaign season, Weintraub's
comment on the book's
last page is timely: "Hoping that MacArthur's popular appeal would assert
itself and gain him the Republican presidential nomination in 1952, his
backers arranged that he deliver the keynote address at the national
convention. His oratory failed to ignite the delegates. Senator Robert
Taft refused to back out and give his bloc of delegates to MacArthur,
and Eisenhower gained the nomination easily."
By then MacArthur assumed the largely honorary post of board chairman
at Sperry Rand. In the summer of 1961 he returned to Manila for
celebrations marking the fifteenth anniversary of Philippine independence,
but did not go on to Japan or Korea.
When nearly 80 MacArthur began his memoirs and segments of this
project appeared as a book just before his death at 84 in 1964.
Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.