Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General

By Michael Schaller

Book Overview

With his chiseled face, corn-cob pipe, and a voice which "could trumpet and drum," General Douglas MacArthur looked the part of a "heaven born general." Although he became arguably the best-known and most flamboyant American military leader of the twentieth century, the men who served in the trenches of Bataan sneeringly referred to him as "Dugout Doug." FDR privately termed MacArthur's defense of Corregidor "criminal," and Truman called his self-promoted "return" to the Philippines "a fiasco."
This eye-opening book, written by one of America's leading authorities on United States-East Asian relations, offers an intimately detailed portrait of MacArthur, focusing particularly on the General's two decades in the Far East. Far from depicting him in a flattering light, Michael Schaller demythologizes the "American Caesar," and along the way gives us an insightful analysis of American foreign policy in Asia during those years.
Revealing MacArthur's military failings, Schaller describes the costly consequences of MacArthur's indecisive Pacific Island campaign during World War II, which the popular press often hailed as brilliant. He also examines MacArthur's three futile attempts at the presidency and his destructive interference in foreign policy--ranging from his manipulation of policies in occupied Japan and his constant attacks on Truman's policy in China, to the Korean War when the seventy-year-old general willfully risked war with China and the Soviet Union to salvage his pride and humiliate his political enemies in Washington.
This thought-provoking biography provides invaluable background to America's present relations with the Far East, as well as an unforgettable portrait of a man driven by talent, opportunism, vision, egotism, and jealousy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195063325
• ISBN13: 9780195063325
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.0" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

A critique of one of the giants of American history

Douglas MacArthur was a giant in American history. Many people who knew him described him as the brightest man they ever met. All agreed that he generally aroused strong passions, most either loved or hated him. FDR is said to have repeatedly described him to his friends as "the most dangerous man" in America, and to have preferred him fighting in the Pacific rather than answering for various astounding lapses of judgment on his part in the United States, and then mulling a campaign for the presidency. The lapses of judgment attributed to him include not dispersing the airplanes under his command immediately after Pearl Harbor, a huge mistake, misjudging Chinese policy on Korea, and more. This isn't to deny that he didn't pull off strokes of pure genius, such as the landing at Inchon. There are other biographies that do a better of job of recounting the many waypoints and events in MacArthur's life; this book is very useful to those seeking to understand MacArthur because it is critical, perhaps scathing, and willing to question his motivations, something that less serious biographies don't do. Schaller documents, perhaps as the first historian to do so, the indisputable evidence that MacArthur accepted a gratuity of $600,000 from the Philippines, then an American territory, while he was involved in crafting American policy towards Philippines. If you only plan to read a single biography of MacArthur, this is not your book; if you, however, want to read several biographies in order to get a really good understanding of MacArthur's life, and the many different ways he was perceived, this book will be indispensable to you on your quest.