The Military in a Democracy

The m t a v in a Democracy A Review: American Caesar Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1978; 793 pp. $15.00 M y first impulse upon agreeing to write this review was to call it ”Flawed Warrior”. After carefully reading and checking the sources of American Caesar, I decided that “Flawed Biography” might be better. Ultimately, the present title seemed best to join a review of the book with some observations on MacArthurism, which are presented both in the biography and in the various volumes Manchester has cited. It is disappointing that despite Manchester’s ability to write, he has fallen short of the scholarly standard that he apparently set for himself. Far more discouraging is the extravagant reception with which several scholars, who should know better, have greeted this book; some of them ignoring the far more careful and authoritative work of D. Clayton James (whose first two volumes, covering MacArthur’s life through World War 11, are singled out by a grateful Manchester as ”scholarly, perceptive, objective, and in its accounts of battles, extraordinarily detailed.”). Forrest P o p e Handling Small Matters If one counts footnotes, Mr. Manchester has done a scholarly study. But if one counts the works that he lists-and evidently failed to read carefully, or at all-one soon recognizes that his book merely follows in the wake of others. Furthermore, in Manchester’s list of abbreviations for the repositories containing his most frequently cited works, there are notable omissions, namely the National Archives, the Roosevelt Library, and the Truman Library . Although Manchester might argue that the MacArthur Library at Norfolk has a “priceless collection,” those who have used it know that the collection is far from complete. Secondary sources can be used safely where there are two volumes of James to follow. It is in the period after World War 11, where there are no such volumes to rely on, that one finds additional gaps in Manchester’s writing. Manchester might argue that it is not necessary to look at the frightening Forrest C. Pogue, Director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Znstitute for Historical Research, Smithsonian Institution, was for many years director of the George C. Marshall Research Library and the authorized biographer of General George C. Marshall. His first book was the Army’s official volume on General Eisenhower‘s command in Northwest Europe, The Supreme Command. 58 American Caesar: The Military in a Democracy I 59 bulk of documents found in the National Archives, if the best secondary sources are cited. But it is difficult to understand his scanty reference to the numerous officialvolumes of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Joint Chiefs of Staff, which cover World War 11, the occupation of Japan, and the Korean War. Maurice Matloff‘s two volumes on strategy in World War I1 and Louis Morton’s Strategy in the Pacific are not even listed; and although Manchester refers to Morton’s Fall of the Philippines a few times, on several occasions it is noted only as “cited in James.” Far more interesting than the volumes that are not used are some three or four that are cited repeatedly. Next to James, the most frequently cited books are those of Courtney Whitney, a member of MacArthur’s staff in the Pacific and his aide in retirement, and Frazier Hunt, a newsman who spent a number of months at MacArthur’s headquarters. Neither of these two books has footnotes. Manchester warns us that “certain passages in Whitney must be read skepticallyand confirmed elsewhere.” Then what are we to make of more than a hundred citations from such a source, especially when it is often the sole basis for a charge of antagonism by Washington? Manchester also recommends Hunt’s book for further reading, despite Hunt’s sustained record of unsupported statements-many of which find their way into American Caesar’s generalizations. Hunt himself has, on occasion, hesitated to make the flat statements that Manchester adopts. Even MacArthur recognized that Hunt’s credibility was suspect. In an interview that I held with General MacArthur on January 2, 1961, I mentioned that some of MacArthur’s biographers were not helping his reputation; my...