The Greater General: Ike or Mac?

I'll mention that I believe General George Marshall outshines them all....

 

He was an independently wealthy man by the time he was offered that money to write his memoirs. He could afford to turn it down. See if you can find the Presidential Order #1 from President Quezon in 1942, just as MacArthur is abandoning the Philippines, a wire transfer put $500,000 into MacArthur's personal account in New York (or the Swiss account).

The problems I have with Big Mac go beyond his accepting the $500,000 in gold transfer:

MacArthur left the Philippines a very wealthy man. As well as some of his officers. How can a General Officer leaving in retreat become wealthy at the same time? Simple…

As the Japanese began invading Corrigador, and Bataan, MacArthur received a $500,000.00 payment in the form of a wire transfer to his N.Y Bank account. Not only did MacArthur receive the $500,000.00, also some of his officers received a large sum of money as well.

The payment was a result of Executive Order # 1 of the Philippine Commonwealth. The order called the payment "recompense and reward" for the "magnificent defense" against the invading forces of the Japanese."

The money that was given to MacArthur's, and his officers was for the past service to the Philippines, in helping them prepare the Philippines for war, but it was a guarantee that MacArthur (and by extension the U.S.) would do everything in his power to help the free the Filipinos from Japanese Occupation.

… Later that same year (1942), President Quezon offered Eisenhower $60,000 (for his service under MacArthur earlier), Eisenhower refused the money, stating that it would compromise his integrity.

MacArthur was also seen wearing medals he didn’t earn. I’m not talking about the dubious MoH either. For both stories;

See:

The Smokin' Gun

He was also promised a certain percentage of all the defense funding spent by the Philippines, in American goods while he was "retired" from the US Army. It was much less than 1% of the total expenditure, but even a small % of millions of dollars is still decent bucks. FDR allowed this recompense, and also kept him on pension as a retired general from the US Army.

That story remained a secret until historian Carol Petillo broke the story in a 1979 article, and while some of the details may never be known, the incident has received well-deserved attention. Excerpts from Ms. Petillo’s article include these quotes:

"The roots of the story go back to 1935, when MacArthur accepted the offer of Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon to become his country's top military advisor. Before he left, MacArthur convinced the War Department to make an exception to the rule forbidding U.S. officers from receiving compensation from the countries they advised. Quezon then promised MacArthur a bonus of 46/100 of 1 percent of Philippine defense spending up to 1942. When MacArthur retired from the U.S. Army in 1937 on pension (but remained as advisor in the Philippines), Chief of Staff Malin Craig suggested to Franklin Roosevelt that he renounce the exception, but the President declined to do so. (emphasis mine)

 

My problem with Mac is that he didn't respond well to surprises and he "let" himself get surprised a couple of times when it really hurt. While Patton and Monty were also glory seekers they seamed willing to share at least to some extent. Then there's that plays well with others factor. Ike excelled at it while neither the navy or the Aussies seam to think all that well of Mac. That said I'm not sure how good Ike was at either strategy or tactics.

 

He let a bunch of brand spanking new B-17s get destroyed AFTER Pearl Harbor?

 

I think MacArthur is the most over-exposed and over-rated general of WW2. Nimitz would have to be the commander of choice in the SWPA

 

I remember reading he had family in the Philipines and send soldiers there during the 1942 retreat for personnal reasons. Is that true?

 

In studying Mac, he personally loved the Phillipines, and Asians in General. He was certainly a glory hog, and a press pig. Overall he was a good theater commander, aand he went on to prove that in Korea where he chased the NK's all the way to China. He was not a good politician as was Ike. But remember also the type of war Mac was fighting. He had a relatively good understanding of the Asian culture and he knew that the Japonese would die before surrender. The European theater was a huge melodrama of politics between FDR, Churchill, De Gaulle, and Petain (whatever he was worth as a puppet). I believe whether we like them or not we had the right people in the right jobs in the right theater of combat. Who was better is a point that would be hard to prove. If you were to put Ike in the PTO and Mac in the ETO i don't think we would have done as well as we did.

 

Good point Surfersami. Since you quote Petain he was a puppet in WW2 a Hero in WW1: yet he was the same man , strange isn't it? Ike in the PTO and Mac in the ETO ? Interesting thought and we"ll never know if they would have been good or bad, but I suspect Mac wouldn't have been as good as Ike there. ike was good at bluffing: when he claimed the supreme command, he threatened to leave if he would not get it.... It both took guts to dare that move. I'm not sure whether Mac was such a smart chess player.

 

Ike by a country mile.
MacArthur was a brilliant man, arrogant, and surrounded himself with sycophants. He was a master at self-promotion but a bad general. The loss of the Phillipines can be laid squarely at his feet. Part of the defensive strategy was to fall back and defend the Bataan Peninsula but he never stockpiled supplies or prepared fortified defensive positions there until it was too late. He allowed his airforce to be destroyed on the ground and then he retreated to Corregidor, offered pronouncements and did little more to stave off the coming disaster. He then left the Phillipines in charge of "Skinny" Wainwright who fought till the end and went into Japanese captivity. MacArthur later recieved the Medal of Honor for his defense of the Phillipines yet tried to prevent Wainwright from being awarded the medal because he had surrendered the Phillipines! WTF.
He repeated the same mistakes with Korea. He failed to properly train and prepare his forces during the inter-war years, when committed to Korea they came very close to catastrophic defeat. Saved by a Marine Brigade rushed from the U.S. to Pusan, disaster was averted. He then had a truly inspired moment of generalship and proposed the Inchon landing. Once he again had the upperhand, he continually ignored reports from troops at the front that they were fighting the Chinese. This led to one of the greatest defeats in American Military history when the 8th Army was routed and X Corps surrounded and part of it destroyed. Not a stellar record.

 

Ike.
I will try catching the Eisenhower Museum in Abiline KS again this year-this time with a more powerfull camera! http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
JeffinMNUSA

 

As a point of interest, $500,000.00 in gold, in 1942 would have the same buying power as $6,966,096.77 does in 2010. Big Mac was a wealthy man by way of President Quezon and the Philippine government. He didn't need any advance from any publisher.

 

Dude, that's some serious jack. Thanks for the conversion, it really puts the payoff in proper perspective.

 

I couldn't have said it better, so I'll go with your post if you don't mind Clint....

 

I think that MacArthur was a great strategist w/ some noteworthy accomplishments like the re-conquest of the Philippines, the Inchon landing & his time as Superintendent at West Point but overwhelmingly he was a disappointment. I base my opinion on some of the following;

His negligence in planning for the defense of the Philippines against a Japanese attack. His failure to coordinate w/ the US Naval command in the islands. His failure to disperse his aircraft & aviation support activities & his relief of his air commander when he suggested the dispersal. His failure to strike Japanese air fields on Formosa. His failure to order better air patrol & early warning activities. Allowing Japanese landing forces to gain a toe-hold rather than destroying them on the beachhead. His defensive plan that relied on a naval task force travelling across the Pacific to relieve his forces. His failure to allow the development of a guerilla warfare system in the islands for the purpose of sabotage, intelligence gathering & maintaining contact w/ Philippine allies.
His dismissal of the Navy plan to bypass Japanese strongholds & later taking credit for the idea.
His pompous behavior when meeting w/ Nimitz & President Roosevelt; arriving to the meeting late & dressed in khakis while Nimitz (in dress whites) & Roosevelt waited.
His failure to appoint Allied military leaders to his GHQ in Australia & his dismissive attitude to the accomplishments of Australian forces under his command.
His staff of sycophants especially Charles Willoughby.
His dereliction of duty in pursuing war crimes trials against more of the Japanese leadership.
His dereliction of duty in allowing the army of occupation in Japan to become one of the worst military units in US history. Lack of training, discipline & leadership made these forces next to useless in Korea.
His failure to consider China’s reaction to UN forces pushing towards the Chinese-North Korean border. His staff’s dismissal of reports of Red Chinese troops massing in North Korea (Willoughby again).


Ike on the other hand knew that his position as SHAEF required not a battlefield leader but a planner, organizer, marriage counselor, referee, morale officer, parent & possible scapegoat & did that job to the best of his abilities. He made his mistakes but overall the Allies were lucky to have him. Two of his greatest accomplishments were that his staff reflected the make-up of his forces & also his insistence on a “broad front” strategy. One of the few times he wavered on the plan resulted in Market Garden which proved that he had been right.
Thanks to the OP for starting this discussion.

 

Old Schoolr

Very good post sir.
-I'd like to add his actual conduct of the re-conquest of the Phillipines. There were many U.S. Army officers, involved in the campaign, that thought it was conducted poorly and resulted in much higher casualties than necessary. It has even been stated that he was fortunate that the Japanese commanders made greater mistakes.
-His having fresh lettuce flown, daily, into Port Moresby while his troops were short of ammo, medicine and food during the early stages of the Buna-Gona battle. How good was it for morale if you're fighting Japanese and disease, hungry and rotting in the jungle, while his majesty can't even do without a fresh salad? No wonder his men hated him.