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THE UNTOLD STORY OF DOUGLAS MACARTHUR by Frazier Hunt

THE UNTOLD STORY OF DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

By

Pub Date: Oct. 27th, 1954
Publisher: Devin-Adair

A laudatory biography of the General presents a by no means untold story (see the recently reported study by Willoughby and Chamberlain- MacArthur: 1941-1951- p. 473, not to mention the host of other books and articles dealing with his career) and stacks its chips firmly on the side of the man whose military genius should have led the free world to victory in Korea, as it did earlier in the South Pacific. Beginning his account with MacArthur's ancestry, Hunt traces the career of his father Arthur; MacArthur's own youth- at West Point and during the early assignments to the Philippines, and Leavenworth, the jobs he had in the Mexican revolution, in World War I and in the modernization of the military academy. Part II is entitled The Fight for Preparedness and beginning with his return to the Philippines, outlines his plans for the military empire to safeguard the Pacific. When Pearl Harbor came, the contention is that Washington was asleep at its desk and may have even gone to some lengths to provoke the attack while MacArthur's warning voice had gone unheeded. The account of the splendid campaign conducted in the South Pacific follows and when MacArthur became supreme commander in Japan, his policies there are viewed as far-seeing and humane- their only fault being that he had perhaps given himself too much to do. In Korea finally, we see MacArthur as the man who could have conquered the Red forces had he been allowed. In sum an approval, it is hard to disagree with Hunt's judgements in the light of the evidence he gives. Rather the fault is with the evidence of which there is none in MacArthur's disfavor-that could provide the balance needed for a more convincing study.