Macarthur, Douglas (1880–1964)

General of the Army and Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific during World War II, military strategist, and liberator of the Philippines. Douglas MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the son of General Arthur MacArthur, a Civil War hero, and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur, the daughter of a privileged southern family.

Douglas MacArthur grew up on various western military outposts. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Army after graduating at the top of his class at West Point in 1903. From 1906 to 1907, he was an aide to U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, who was a friend of MacArthur's father. Near the end of World War I, MacArthur became commander of the famed 42nd (Rainbow) Division. In 1919, he was appointed superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, later serving two tours of duty in the Philippines and Japan in the 1920s. He returned to the United States in 1925.

MacArthur became Army Chief of Staff in 1930, serving until 1935. His tenure as chief of staff was marked by a struggle to keep the service intact during a period of nationwide economic decline. Among his accomplishments were the development of plans for industrial mobilization, establishment of an Air Force headquarters, and oversight of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

In 1935, MacArthur was promoted to major general and became a military adviser to the Philippine government. He retired from active service in 1937, but continued as an adviser to the Philippine government. However, MacArthur was recalled to active duty in July 1941, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East.

Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, MacArthur was charged with the defense of the Philippines. After the Philippines fell, he was stationed briefly in Australia. Shortly thereafter, MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific. A master strategist, MacArthur broke with the Navy's war plan, attacking Japan via New Guinea and the Philippines.

Making good on his famous “I shall return” promise, MacArthur waded ashore at Leyte Island in the Philippines on Oct. 30, 1944, and proclaimed, “I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”

MacArthur was promoted to the newly created rank of General of the Army in December 1944 and received an unprecedented fifth star. He accepted the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. As supreme commander of the Allied powers, MacArthur oversaw the disarmament, occupation, and economic reconstruction of Japan from 1945 to 1950. He was seriously considered as the Republican presidential candidate in 1948, but a poor showing in the Wisconsin primary discouraged his supporters.

Following the invasion of South Korea by North Korea in June 1950, MacArthur became supreme commander of U.S. and UN troops there. After driving the North Koreans back over the 38th parallel, MacArthur received permission from President Harry [Page 440]S. Truman to invade North Korea, despite warnings that such an act might provoke the Chinese.

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