I would have to say that Manchester's rendition of MacArthur is more than a bit romanticized. Certainly in these parts he has a rather different reputation. Old Arthur's performance in the Philippine-American conflict was something short of stellar (the conflict is an amazingly accurate precursor of later Asian entanglements, even down to Gen. Funston's ranting about "bleeding hearts and hand-wringers back home" damaging the war effort), and he is not recalled as much of a hero.
Underestimation of Japanese capability is about the kindest treatment I can think of for the actions of the son. How else to explain his assurance to President Quezon that the undertrained and totally unequipped Philippine Army, which he had built, would stop the Japanese on the beaches? How else to explain the total lack of preparation for air attacks on the Clark and Iba airstrips, or the incomprehensible retreat into Bataan? Surely if he had known the Japanese capabilities he could have withdrawn the aircraft to the south, used them to harass the Japanese advance, and preserved the bulk of his troops intact? This man, "brave to a fault", is the one who was whisked away from Corregidor, leaving his troops and Gen. Wainwright, who took the flak for MacArthur's errors, to the death march.
Surely you are aware that MacArthur insisted on a ground campaign to liberate the Philippines, knowing that the island-hopping campaign had made the move unnecessary, simply to vindicate his famous promise to return? And that the American reoccupation, accompanied by mass bombings of Japanese-occupied towns, caused more damage and civilian casualties than the Japanese invasion?
And surely you are aware that once the war was over MacArthur paid no further attention to his "beloved Philippines". Have you any idea how bitter Filipinos are to this day about the truth that the US lavished far more money and attention on the reconstruction of Japan than they did on the only Asian country that stood with them? |
