10 Reasons People Have Called
General Douglas MacArthur a “Jerk”

Whoops, the date is June 17, 2016, not June 17, 2020. I'm sorry.

Nice hit piece...light on facts but heavy on agenda...sounds like a 5th grader's assignment from a WOKE history teacher: "Why is General MacArthur a Jerk/"

He was right most if the time but was a self aggrandizing pompous arrogant jerk. And he forgot just whom it was that he worked for.

Upcoming Woke Article: “10 reasons people have called Jesus a jerk”

Definite jerk. My father served in the European theater during WWII, and was as an officer worked with or near various generals. MacArthur and Britain's Montgomery were too concerned with political posturing to properly run combat and survived only by having people working for them who would do their jobs for them, and let them take the credit in his opinion. In battle, Patton was very good, but accepted no excuses. If unanticipated 'you know what' hit the fan you were expected to come up with a solution on your own and be where he wanted you to be. The general directly above my father was... unique. Another whore-mongering political wanker who was also a Southern Democrat bigot. One of the scouting units under his command had an exceptional African American soldier, who went through hell to get intel on Panzer unit they were trying to pinpoint, getting wounded twice, repairing his communications cable when it was cut by enemy fire, and accurately pinpointing the enemy while remaining in the danger zone to insure they were suppressed. Damn General refused to consider him for Silver Star or purple heart, because, "Thayuh've been too many of those people gettin' recognition. Folks back home won't stan' foe it." My Dad had the young soldier temporarily transferred to another unit, awarded his star and purple heart, then transferred back, probably without him ever being aware it had been done, but it was the only way to work around these jerks. MacArthur wanted to invade the Japanese mainland. Its not impossible, the atomic bombs were specifically dropped to stymie this intent, because MacArthur considered Truman "Inexperienced and incompetent" to make battlefield decisions that MacArthur was more qualified to make. I've read some estimates that had this invasion gone ahead (the Japanese had broken the U.S. military code at this point and knew what MacArthur's plans were), the U.S. would have had over 1 million casualties and the Japanese over 10 million casualties, with only a 50% chance of success. The atom bombs dropped on the military staging points of Hiroshima and Nagasaki spared millions of lives. And it forestalled MacArthur being shamefully relieved of his command by a few years, till Korea.

I have read numerous accounts of action in the Philippines before and during the war. From that I formed the same conclusion as that presented in the article. His inaction after Pearl Harbor should have been a reason to relieve him. His insistence on taking over North Korea led to countless Americans losing their lives for nothing. Truman should have relieved him long before that.

Articles like this annoy me. They're click bait. MacArthur was a very complex man, almost impossible to characterize based on simplistic crap like this. Here's some serious reading for anyone who will take the time (a long time!) to actually learn about the man: "The Years of MacArthur," by D. Clayton James. It is an encyclopedic three-volume work.

Oh boy, this disgusting screed must have been written by a brainwashed Marine, with apologies to my decent Marine brothers and sisters, but this reads like the tripe regurgitated over the decades about this amazing General. A few facts completely missing from this garbage: 1) Cadet Douglas MacArthur graduated West Point highest in his class, which was no mean feat. He was also an Engineering Major, not Letters or Political Science.For a cadet stunt he disassembled a canon in the middle of the night then reassembled it in the clock tower and no one has figured out how he hoisted the barrel and parts without guards noticing the gantry mechanism, etc. He was anything but stupid. 2) Captain Douglas MacArthur was awarded 7 Silver Stars and a Distinguished Service Cross (downgraded from MOH) in WWI for bravery in combat. He was fearless. He was a man of the Christian faith, trusted in God, and expressed that faith in his speeches. 3) Breaking up the Veteran encampment around our Nation's Capital during the Bonus March was fundamentally right in order to protect the normal function of government. The WWI Vets were told many times to break up and depart but refused. A riot was going to happen. Today we need another such MacArthur to protect our National Monuments and White House from Antifa and BLM attacks. 4) Gen. MacArthur had already retired honorably from the Army for years before WWII began. He was called back into active duty to run the Pacific Theater because of his incredible knowledge of the area and the people. He understood the enemy. There was none better. 5) Gen. MacArthur's treatment of the Japanese after the war was one of the greatest acts of diplomacy ever shown by an American representative. He knew how the Japanese thought and how they would respond if the Emperor were "captured." As a result of MacArthur's diplomacy in occupied Japan, there were almost no losses of American lives from disgruntled ex-military Japanese. 6) Gen. MacArthur was once again called back into active duty to run the Korean War fiasco. The Inchon Landing is heralded as one of the greatest strategic military moves of all time. It reduced a triumphant Communist Korean Army to tuck tail and run in the most efficient manner possible. He could have destroyed the Chinese menace's war fighting ability for decades to follow had he been allowed to attack them past the Yalu River, and he was 100% correct. Truman got his feathers ruffled, and that debate that's gone on forever. Truman isn't much remembered in history, but MacArthur's legacy will live on much longer.

Oh, and one last thing, to contrast the Pacific Theater with the European - General MacArthur was approached by advisors, during post war occupation, were concerned about the rising influence of the Communist Party there and whether we should ban or outlaw the Party AND their publications. General MacArthur said, "No." Paraphrasing he continued, "We believe in freedom of speech and we will enforce that among the Japanese people, who will make their own decisions." Now, compare that to Europe, where to this day, it is illegal to own a copy of "Mein Kampf" in Germany, a law that was imposed upon the Germans by the Allied occupation forces. Guess what? There are more neo-Nazis in Germany today than there are Communists in Japan. Brilliant, or what?

Yes, light on facts. Here's one: When Roosevelt was elected he too denied the veterans early payment of the bonus, though when they marched again they were treated better. If yo fault MacArthur for anything it's that he got caught with his pants down three times by my count. The Philippines, where he depended on a totally unrealistic plan to use air power which in turn depended upon air reinforcements from the mainland; the North Korean attack on South Korea where a soft, homesteading US occupation force in Japan (similar to the one in the Philippines in 1942) was shipped over to stop the attack and was almost pushed into the sea; and failure to foresee or ignore the warnings of the Chinese intervention in Korea. But unlike today's crop of Generals, he wanted to win, and that is what counts.

MccArthur made errors; everyone does. But he took Japan, which it took almost 4 years to defeat and which had caused endless trouble to the world, and transformed it into a country that is so peaceful today that if we had to depend on it militarily today we'd be unable to do so; and it's been done with a country that was transformed into a parliamentary democracy. That alone is enough -75 years of no trouble from Japan and a lot of good. Just that alone - please, send us more "jerks" like that.

General Douglas MacArthur was a jerk, to be sure, but he was also the biggest Mama's Boy since Oedipus.

MacArthur was a bigger than life officer, who had his moments, but the Pacific war was a Navy war. The Navy steadily destroyed the Japanese Navy, allowing the Marines to take key islands and airfields away from the Japanese. The Army had some of the action too, especially later on, but it was primarily a Navy/Marine show. Naval battles and island hopping in the Pacific was not the Army's forte. MacArthur was designated Supreme Commander, and some other titles, but he made some early mistakes. He learned as he went, to his credit.

Post war Japan could have gone differently. MacArthur might not be one of history's greatest generals. But he was certainly history's greatest conqueror.

Well, of course he was somewhat of a jerk. He was an arrogant pain in the butt, a preening prima dona, but ultimately a very good administrator between the wars when money for the army was nearly non-existent and an effective military planner and leader when we needed those skills during the war. Not a fan of MacArthur as a person, but he was clearly an effective leader when we needed that capability. Personal foibles are relatively unimportant if a military leader is effective.

It’s pretty easy to Monday morning quarterback wartime decisions made about 75 years ago, as the Commanders who made those strategic decisions are no longer around to defend their decisions. I was an infantryman adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea when MacArthur made his last trip back to Japan during about 1961, and as we could see from the favorable reaction of the ordinary Japanese people at that time, if MacArthur had been Japanese there is no doubt that he could have been elected as the Japanese Prime Minister in a landslide at that time. That being said, there is no doubt that MacArthur made a huge mistake during the Korean War by allowing the UN forces to push forward to tactically illogical positions on the ground in far North Korea during the dead of a very cold winter where they were overrun by the large covert invasion of Korea by the massive Chinese Communist Army. Back in the 1944-45 period the US Navy in the Pacific was so strong, and was being reinforced by the British Royal Navy being redeployed to the Pacific, that The Philippine Islands could have been bypassed and cutoff from resupply by Japan through a comprehensive Naval blockade North of the Philippines and mass aerial bombing of the Japanese air bases including in Vietnam and Formosa that were in range of the Philippines. Against such a huge allied naval force, as we have seen it was suicide, for what was left of the Imperial Japanese Navy to directly attack the allied naval task forces that included overwhelming carrier based air power. The allied campaign through the Philippines was one of three large allied offensives against Japan, the others being by way of the Central Pacific and through the Burma/China route. It was the Central Pacific Offensive that did the most damage to the Japanese Islands at that time, through masses of B-29 heavy bombers flying direct from the Northern Mariana Islands to bomb the Japanese cities. It was just a matter of time before the entire Japanese Navy would be sunk and Japan surrounded with Japanese industry completely destroyed. Then once the two atomic bombs were deployed against Japanese cities, the Japanese had no other choice than unconditional surrender.

Read his writings! He was brilliant and far above any leader on the scene today! We have Colin Powell, Mattis etc., today! They couldn’t carry Douglas’ water at any level!

So, from now on I guess the military should only have generals that are "nice guys" or "wimps"! I feel sorry for the upcoming generation over populated with spoiled brats and kids working out their mommy and daddy issues on the public stage. I experienced a similar environment back in the late 60's!

MacArthur was called an American Caesar. Some consider that to be an insult to Caesar. I consider it to be an insult to MacArthur. No MacArthur didn't have an extensive lists of conquests. But he was a much better person and less vane than Big Julie. His greatest victory was not won on a battlefield but in the Oval Office in the White House against FDR. When FDR was elected he had to deal with The Depression and he planned to gut the military budget. Mac and FDR has some animated screaming bouts. Unlike Truman, FDR didn't fire him because he valued his opinions and admired a person with enough backbone to stand up to him. Trump had some admirable personal traits but he was out of his element as POTUS. Always loved what Mac said about him: I would never have opposed President Truman's Korean policy had I known President Truman had a Korean policy.

The Pacific War entailed two main avenues of approach, the Central which was a Navy and Marine war, and the SW Pacific which contained most of the landmass. It was perfectly logical to give an Army general command of the SW. There were two vitally important reasons for the SW Pacific to be retaken: 1) the defense of Australia, and 2) eliminate Japanese forces which could threaten the flank of Nimitz' Central Pacific campaign. For both the US and Japanese navies and air forces, land bases were needed for refit and refuel. Japanese real estate need to be retaken. I agree with #8, although I think MacArthur was a BG in WWI. The author makes a big deal about Patton and his "cavalry charge" in support of MacArthur. Their relationship was forged in WWI when both Patton and MacArthur commanded from the front in likely the first US combined armor-infantry team. The accounts of both of these men in front of their forces are truly amazing and heroic.

Maybe Mac Arthur was a jerk. He wouldn't have been the first -- or the last -- leader to be a jerk. So what? I tell folks that I would NEVER want to work for a Donald Trump. A micromanager, someone who can fire you at a moment's notice, someone who will ream you a new one o a daily basis. It's a high risk, but high reward position that if you can work at the speed of Trump, it will be a highly rewarding opportunity. But for most of us, we couldn't have it. But I am sure glad that Donald Trump is our President.

Mac Arthur was fired because he wouldn't return to the states to pay taxes on his beer industry. He owned the beer factories in the Philippines and he refused to return to the states as ordered by the Commander In Chief President Truman. Mac Arthur wasn't the great warrior he was portrayed.

I am a Vietnam era veteran but I know and have spoken to many, many WWII veterans, my Father being one of them. All, to a man, thought that dug-out Doug was nothing but a complete waste of a uniform. You could always find Doug in the rear with the gear where it was safe.

No idea about history.