Get It Right, Sarah
Your researchers can't pass the Google Test
Harsh Language alert! Dougout Dougie does that to me.
When she pulled the plug yesterday, Governor Palin hinted at continuing political ambitions when she repeated a quote she attributed to general Douglas MacArthur: "We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction."
Sorry, Sarah. Actually, that quote belongs to General O.P. Smith, USMC, during the battle of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. The understrengthed First Marine division was surrounded by eight fully strengthed Communist Chinese divisions.
The 1st MarDiv beat the ChiComs so badly, those eight divisions were utterly destroyed and never returned to the fight for the remainder of the war.
Douglas MacArthur, on the other hand, was an expert on retreating (hauling ass). That sack of shit turned runnning away into an art form. Hell, even his own Army troops nicknamed him "Dugout Doug".
Many years ago, I spoke to an Army vet (Bataan Death March survivor) who actually spit on the ground at the mere mention of his name. That speaks volumes.
Your researchers can't pass the Google Test
Harsh Language alert! Dougout Dougie does that to me.
When she pulled the plug yesterday, Governor Palin hinted at continuing political ambitions when she repeated a quote she attributed to general Douglas MacArthur: "We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction."
Sorry, Sarah. Actually, that quote belongs to General O.P. Smith, USMC, during the battle of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. The understrengthed First Marine division was surrounded by eight fully strengthed Communist Chinese divisions.
The 1st MarDiv beat the ChiComs so badly, those eight divisions were utterly destroyed and never returned to the fight for the remainder of the war.
Douglas MacArthur, on the other hand, was an expert on retreating (hauling ass). That sack of shit turned runnning away into an art form. Hell, even his own Army troops nicknamed him "Dugout Doug".
Many years ago, I spoke to an Army vet (Bataan Death March survivor) who actually spit on the ground at the mere mention of his name. That speaks volumes.
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
7:32 AM
14 Comments:
When you mention Dugout Doug, I thought of Hanoi Jane, and then wondered why she doesn't have a high place in the present administration.
Would America and the war effort been better served if MacArthur stayed and got captured and probably executed. No doubt the guys who went thru Bataan Hell have a grudge against their boss for not sharing it with them, but what's new about that in any conflict? People should read "American Caesar" by Wm. Manchester and see if they don't agree the MacArthur's strategy in the Pacific, coupled with his knowledge of the Oriental mind, wasn't brilliant.
I've got to disagree. Nimitz, Halsey and O.P. Smith had more to do with the stategy and tactics involved in the Pacific Theater than MacArthur could have ever hoped for.
He was the one to blame for the debacle in the PI. Few know that he had eight hours notification that there was an attack on Hawaii, but he froze up. No troops deployed to the field, no air sorties, no ships sent to sea. Nothing. Eight hours notification before a single Japanese bomb dropped. And this boob did nothing.
And when he finally does act, be backs himself into a corner KNOWING DAMN GOOD AND WELL that the better part of the Pacific Fleet lay at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. So much for a relief fleet steaming to the Philipines.
And American and Filipino troops paid the price for his inactions at Bataan and various other hell holes in the Japanese Empire. Thanks Doug.
And not only did he spend the vast majority of the war in comfort in Australia, if you ever get the chance to read the plans of Operations Olympic and Coronet (the invasions of the Home Islands), MacArthur ensured that US Army troops had a 3-1 numerical superiority over the Japanese (which was/is tactically sound, due to anyone on the defensive automatically has a 3-1 advantage). But when it came to the Marine Corps... MacArthur had Marines slug it out at a 1-1 ratio. Essentially, MacArthur wanted to kill the Marine Corps. There are many things about MacArthur I don't like (and won't list unless asked), but for this reason alone, I will always despise Douglas MacArthur.
Something else to think of -- the MacArthur family was old East Coast money. Blue bloods and all that jazz. Guess who the MacArthurs were tight with? Yep, the Hearsts... as in William Raldolph Hearst... as in Hearst Newspapers. In the dark opening days of WWII, America needed a hero. William Randolph Hearst manufactured one, at Mommy MacArthurs insistence.
*pant, pant, pant* OK, I promise to calm down now!
Thank God the 1st Marines had Chesty Puller with them. Thank God for the country.
"There are many things about MacArthur I don't like (and won't list unless asked)"
Caveman,
I'm asking. Let us know the truth. In an age when we're spoon-fed inaccuracies, we rely on guys like you to set the full record straight.
BJB,
Well, some of the other things I don't like about him ---
He was a mama's boy. When enrolled at West Point, his mommy rented an apartment overlooking the grounds, and she would peer through a telescope at night to his room to ensure he'd gone to bed.
He was the one who ordered American Vets to be fired upon (The Bonus Marchers). Many WWI vets were gunned down on his orders.
One of the prime movers of the "disband the Marine Corps" movement in the early 1930's was... you guessed it - Douglas MacArthur.
He was such a f***-up, he got himself exiled to The Philipines in 1935 (not exactly considered a plum assignment back then). It was an accident of history that he happpen to be there Dec 8th.
During the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri, even though it's a documented fact that marines performed the lion's share of ground combat in the Pacific Theater, only 2 Marine generals were invited to the ceremony - Lt Gen Roy Geiger (3 star) and B Gen Field Harris (1 star). Where were Generals Oliver Smith, Vandegrift (MOH winner), Holland M. "Howlin' Mad" Smith, Mike Edson, etc?
During the Korean War, yet again, Marines bore the brunt of the battle to retake Seoul. Yet when the fighting was over, during the victory celebration, MacArthur ordered all Marines out of the city.
Should I even get into his arrogant blundering up to the Yalu River?
Lastly, when one is on active duty, you don't publicly slam the President. MacArthur was an arrogant ass.
Lastly, when one is on active duty, you don't publicly slam the President. MacArthur was an arrogant ass.
This is the one that really got to me! I mean what about leadership by example? Applies from corporal/petty officer 3rd class to four-star.
Hey guys, I just want to set the record straight. In no way, shape or form am I even in the slightest bit PO'ed at FAB.
I just read the ComBox, and it DOES does look like I'm being a jerk towards him.
FAB, you know you're my goomba!
As you well know, I tend to sometimes get... excited... shall we say? *insert evil grin here*
Thanks for the info, Caveman.
I've always wondered about MacArthur ever since I read "American Caesar" years ago. Now, when I read it, I think I remember reading that he had some hand in the legalization of abortion in post-war Japan. Do you have any specifics on this?
Sorry, I don't have any info on that.
Anyone else?
From:
http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2009/01/america_empire_and_conservatis.html
Not sure about reliability of blog, just been there once
-TH2
"...Coulombe gives the impression that the legalization of abortion in Japan in 1949 was both the policy of General Douglas MacArthur and the expression of a messianic American liberalism intent on imposing its mores on the world. In fact it was neither. (One suspects Coulombe has bought into the myth that MacArthur governed as an absolute dictator in Japan and remade Japanese society entirely according to his personal vision. In fact the Japanese were allowed a fair bit of leeway in settling matters of detail for themselves, and the policies MacArthur did impose were largely, though not entirely, formulated in Washington.)
For one thing, the legalization of abortion was not on the radar screen of mainstream American liberalism in 1949, even if there were radicals who foresaw a day when it might be. For another, one of those radicals, Margaret Sanger, was prevented by MacArthur from even entering Japan, so controversial at the time were her views on birth control and related matters. MacArthur also suppressed a report on overpopulation that favored birth control, under pressure from Catholic and other religious organizations who objected to it, and resolved to stay neutral on the matter, letting the Japanese Diet settle things for itself. Far from being an American import, abortion seems to have been something already practiced in Japan as a means of birth control, and the 1949 law merely codified it. And far from pushing for it in the interests of imposing American liberalism, MacArthur refused to get involved precisely to avoid seeming to meddle too closely in Japanese affairs, and also, perhaps, to avoid offending American religious groups and thus damaging his prospects as a future presidential candidate."
TH2,
Thanks for clarifying that.
BB
+JMJ+
Comprehensive list, Cavey! Don't forget that MacArthur agreed to drop a libel suit he had filed against a columnist after the latter threatened to publish MacArthur's love letters to his mistress.
I'm so disgusted that Gregory Peck played him in a movie.
Abortion legal in Japan since 1949? It surely didn't stop the Japanese population from growing by leaps and bounds.
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