WITH MACARTHUR IN JAPAN

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

During Ambassador Sebald's tour of diplomatic duty in Japan, he became the main channel of communication between the Secretary of State and General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers. MacArthur, however, seldom asked for political advice regarding the Japanese or his administration of the occupation. Sebald terms his present report ""a personal history."" He admires the late general, thought him the best possible choice for the job, and always found MacArthur's door open to him. Carrying out his mission Sebald had to ride herd on criticisms and comments from the Far Eastern Commission, the Departments of State and Army, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Congress, and all the Allied capitals. But it is the Americans and not the Allies who got Japan back on its feet. Our primary policy almost from war's end was to establish the Japanese as pro-American and anti-Communist; to have Japan fill the Far Eastern power vacuum. Sebald sharply knocks our War Crimes purges as self-defeating, economically and politically. His rich, frank personal relation to MacArthur over a five-year period in movingly displayed, and he attacks the General's bad press with vigor. MacArthur has seldom appeared to better advantage or with more casual intimacy.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION