Douglas MacArthur - Duty, Honor, Country: Two Memorable Addresses by General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur

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Text originally published in 1962 under the same title.

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DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY

TWO MEMORABLE ADDRESSES

BY

GENERAL OF THE ARMY, DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

At last, in American history, a sad chapter of seeming ingratitude has been superseded by an act of gratitude. Congress now has passed a resolution tendering to General Douglas MacArthur the thanks of the nation for his distinguished military service to the American people.

So far as the official record is concerned, General MacArthur has been listed since 1951 as an officer removed from all command for alleged insubordination.

It happened that General MacArthur answered a letter of inquiry from the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts, who had asked the General for his opinion on Far Eastern questions. Military officers can testify freely before Congressional committees as long as they do not disclose military secrets. Yet a letter, which amounted to the same thing as testimony on broad policy problems, prompted the punishment that was meted out. The letter was never intended for publication.

General MacArthur had two commands at the time. He was commander of the Allied Occupation of Japan, and to this day it is universally agreed he did a wonderful job. He was also commander of the United Nations Forces in Korea. Had the American President wished, he could have changed commanders in Korea without disturbing the position of command which General MacArthur held in Japan. Mr. Truman was urged to do so by his own military chiefs in Washington and by some of his Cabinet officers but apparently chose to strip General MacArthur of all command and bring him home with a public repudiation.

For eleven years now the distinguished general has lived in retirement. Many of the men who served under him have not forgotten his remarkable acts of personal bravery and skilful command, and have felt that the nation should be reminded in a formal way of those contributions. It has been a delicate subject to raise. Finally a resolution before Congress passed unanimously. The resolution reads as follows:

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, that the thanks and appreciation of the Congress and the American people are hereby tendered to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in recognition of his outstanding devotion to the American people, his brilliant leadership during and following World War II, and the unsurpassed affection held for him by the people of the Republic of the Philippines which has done so much to strengthen the ties of friendship between the people of that nation and the people of the United States.

What he did in liberating the Philippines from the Japanese in 1945, together with his remarkable service in the Korean War, are events recent enough for most people in this country to recall.

It does seem unfortunate, however, that a political incident has caused such a long delay in giving full recognition to a brave man who performed a brilliant service for his country in many command posts. At last the record has been set straight, and, fortunately, this comes during the lifetime of the 82-year-old veteran, who said in his farewell address to Congress in 1951: Old soldiers never diethey just fade away.

Congress apparently is not willing that in official history the memory of what Douglas MacArthur did for his country should fade away but wants it to remain instead an enduring example of devotion to the nations service.

Acknowledgement is made to David Lawrence, famous writer, and the New York Herald Tribune for their co-operation with this preface.

On April 19, 1951, at Eniwetok, our atomic testing station in the Pacific, with a dozen or so Army, Navy and Air Force generals and admirals, and a sprinkling of civilian scientists, I listened to a radio broadcast of the address delivered by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur at Washington, D.C., before a joint meeting of the two houses of Congress in the hall of the House of Representatives.

I had seen MacArthur hold audiences spellbound before and this was no exception. As always, his profound knowledge of his subject, his clarity of presentation and his undoubted sincerity, held the attention of the listener to the end. When it was over you had the feeling that everyone took a deep breath, that they had forgotten to breathe as they didnt want to miss any of his words.

That day the members of Congress and the nation heard an expert analysis of the situation in the Far East, the story of Korea and some advice for the future that was good then and is still good today. The establishment in Japan of a representative, orderly and stable government, the recovery and the present prosperity of that country following a disastrous defeat, are primarily due to the wise and efficient administration of MacArthur, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers of Occupation. Never before in history has the Commander of an occupying army become a hero to the conquered people and never before has that army been as popular as the American soldiers, sailors and airmen have been in Japan. It was quite significant that when he needed them in Korea, MacArthur sent all four of the occupation divisions in Japan to the fighting front with no worry as to the effect of the resulting power vacuum in the Japanese who supported us through defeat, victory and the final inevitable stalemate that resulted from our policy which forbade operations against the main enemy, Red China, unless they were actually on Korean soil. As a result, Korea, the country we were trying to save, was bombed, shelled and devastated, while the real enemy, Red China, had its soil untouched.

Like all great leaders, MacArthur has his critics, some of whom have called him a warmonger, which is completely at variance with the facts. He has known war at first hand as few men have known it but he has long advocated its abolition as a means of settling international disputes. If, however, war is forced upon us, he believes that every means should be used to bring it to a swift, victorious end. He has never been a councilor of appeasement or surrender. History has always shown that such measures do not work. They result in a sham peace at best which merely lays the basis for more and more blackmail until violence is the only thing left. He is a realist who believes that under present world conditions we must maintain sufficient armed strength to deter any aggressor from attacking us and to win in case we are forced into war. In such an eventuality, as MacArthur has stated many times, In war, there can be no substitute for victory.