William Manchester - American Caesar Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964

Copyright 1978 by William Manchester

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group

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First eBook Edition: May 2008

ISBN: 978-0-316-03242-1

ACCLAIM FOR WILLIAM MANCHESTERS

American Caesar

Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964

A great biography! A balanced, forthright account of the life and accomplishments of the most controversial General in American history.

William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

A blockbuster of a book.... It reads like a novel, but all of it is based firmly on the complex but fascinating record.

Edwin O. Reischauer, New York

Superb.... A tremendous book, and the research behind it is awesome.

Lt. General James M. Gavin, New Republic

A perfectly splendid book. As fine a piece of American military biography as anything in our history.

Josiah Bunting, Chicago Sun-Times

Highly readable. MacArthur bestrides this book like a colossus.

Leonard Bushkoff, Washington Post

Manchester brings the General alive as few have been able to render him. We see both the public and the private man.

Los Angeles Times

Manchester chisels away the myths and misunderstandings. The MacArthur that remains is a man of granite, a vital, continually surprising, larger-than-life figure.

Publishers Weekly

A moving reading experience.... American Caesar is William Manchesters finest book.

Boston Herald-American

Definitive.... A magnificent biography.... The personal, the political, and the familial episodes are as engrossing as the military.

United Press International

Stunning....The author has tackled the colossal story with a dash and courage matching MacArthurs own.

Burke Wilkinson, Christian Science Monitor

BOOKS BY WILLIAM MANCHESTER

Biography

DISTURBER OF THE PEACE: The Life of H. L. Mencken

A ROCKEFELLER FAMILY PORTRAIT: From John D. to Nelson

PORTRAIT OF A PRESIDENT: John F. Kennedy in Profile

AMERICAN CAESAR: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964

ONE BRIEF SHINING MOMENT: Remembering Kennedy

THE LAST LION: Winston Spencer Churchill;

VISIONS OF GLORY: 1874-1932

THE LAST LION: Winston Spencer Churchill;

ALONE: 1932-1940

History

THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT: November 20-November 25, 1963 THE ARMS OF KRUPP, 1587-1968

THE GLORY AND THE DREAM:

A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972

A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE. The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age

Essays

CONTROVERSY: And Other Essays in Journalism, 1950-1975 IN OUR TIME: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers

Fiction

THE CITY OF ANGER

SHADOW OF THE MONSOON

THE LONG GAINER

Diversion

BEARD THE LION

Memoirs

GOODBYE, DARKNESS: A Memoir of the Pacific War

TO THE 29TH MARINES

3,512 LANDED ON OKINAWA

APRIL 1, 1945

2,821 FELL IN 82 DAYS

THE HIGHEST PRICE EVER PAID

BY A U.S. MARINE CORPS REGIMENT

IN A SINGLE BATTLE

Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.

SIMONIDES AT THERMOPYLAE

Officers ranks change during their military careers, and attempts to keep track of their promotions merely confuse the reader. In this work, therefore, ranks are omitted unless essential to an understanding of a passage. In the absence of designations to the contrary, the General, when thus capitalized, always refers to Douglas MacArthur. George C. Marshalls Christian name is used to distinguish him from Richard J. Marshall, MacArthurs World War II deputy chief of staff.

Tenses present a similar problem of clarity. To avoid tortuous excursions into the miasmas of the pluperfect, the text occasionally reads, he recalls and he remembers when a specific recollection may in fact have occurred years earlier, often in published memoirs. The present tense enhances lucidity and heightens the sense of immediacy. Citations in the chapter notes, of course, pinpoint the date of each reference.

1825 Arthur MacArthur, Sr., arrives in United States from Scotland.

1845 Arthur MacArthur, Jr., born.

1862 Arthur Jr. commissioned as first lieutenant in Union army.

1863 Arthur Jr. wins Congressional Medal of Honor.

1864 Aged nineteen, Arthur Jr. becomes a full colonel.

1866 Arthur Jr. begins Indian fighting on frontier.

1870 President Grant appoints Arthur Sr. a federal judge.

1875 Arthur Jr. marries Pinky Hardy.

1880 Douglas MacArthur (hereinafter MacArthur) born January 26 on army post; his frontier childhood begins.

1893 MacArthur a cadet at West Texas Military Academy.

1896 Judge Arthur MacArthur dies.

1898 General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., fights in Spanish-American War.

1900 Arthur Jr. named military governor of the Philippines.

1901 MacArthur testifies before congressional committee while still a West Point cadet. Arthur Jr. relieved for insubordination to William Howard Taft.

1903 MacArthur graduates from West Point; first captain, first in class. As a second lieutenant, he comes under fire in the Philippines.

1904 Promoted to first lieutenant.

1905 Tours Far East with his parents.

1906 Appointed aide to President Theodore Roosevelt.

1908 Reprimanded twice for insubordination.

1911 Promoted to captain.

1912 Arthur MacArthur, Jr., dies.

1913 MacArthur appointed to general staff.

1914 His daring April Vera Cruz raid; recommended for Congressional Medal of Honor.

1915 Promoted to major.

1917 As a colonel, assigned to Rainbow Division as chief of staff.

1918 Fighting in France, is decorated nine times for heroism. Pinky demands that he be promoted.

Aged thirty-eight, MacArthur becomes a general, commands Rainbow Division.

1919 Becomes superintendent of West Point.

1922 Marries Louise Brooks.

1925 MacArthur serves on Billy Mitchell court-martial.

1929 Louise divorces him.

1930 He takes a Eurasian mistress. He becomes army Chief of Staff.

1932 Bonus army incident.

1934 $15,000 buys off his mistress.

1935 Pinky dies in Manila.

1936 MacArthur becomes Philippine Field Marshal.

1937 He marries Jean Marie Faircloth.

1938 Arthur MacArthur IV born in Manila.

1941 FDR recalls MacArthur to active duty as U.S. Far East commander.

Japanese attack; MacArthurs air force is destroyed on the ground.

He withdraws to Bataan and Corregidor.

1942 The MacArthur escape to Australia. MacArthur awarded Congressional Medal of Honor. He defends Australia in New Guinea.

1943 MacArthur bypasses Rabaul.

1944 Hollandia: a MacArthur masterpiece.

FDR-MacArthur meeting in Honolulu.

MacArthur becomes a five-star general.

1945 Manila, Bataan, and Corregidor recaptured.

MacArthur defies the Joint Chiefs, retakes central and southern Philippines.

He flies into Yokohamaunarmed.