"GREETED WITH A 21 GUN SALUTE"

PRESIDENT HARDING MAKES FIRST VISIT TO WEST POINT

West Point, New York (JFK+50) On September 15, 1921, President Warren G. Harding visited the United States Military Academy located here in West Point, New York.  It was his first visit to the academy.

The President was greeted with a 21 gun salute as he passed through the gate.  The Commander-in-chief then reviewed the cadet corps, took lunch with superintendent Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur*, and played a round of golf on the academy course.

*Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas & attended West Texas Military Academy before admission to West Point.  DM graduated first in his class at the USMA in 1903.  He served as superintendent of the academy 1919-1922 where he attempted a series of reforms.

SOURCE

"President Guest At West Point," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 15, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

   

 

West Point

NY Central RR Lines

by Frank Hazell

Library of Congress

"CONDEMNS TRUMAN'S LIMITED WAR POLICY IN KOREA"

MACARTHUR TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 3, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur* testified before a closed session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee here in the Nation's Capital.

The General's opening remarks lasted six hours.

MacArthur condemned President Harry S Truman's policy of fighting a limited war in Korea.  The General said that only through a strategy of complete military destruction of the communist empire could the United States hope to win the Cold War. 

*General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas & graduated 1st in his 1903 West Point class.  DM was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Army Corps of Engineers.

DM served as US Army Chief of Staff during the 1930s and received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines.  DM became a 5 star General. 

 

 

General Douglas MacArthur

Philippine Islands (1945)

Naval Historical Center

Direct Link

 

 

THE PRESIDENT BELIEVED THE GENERAL WAS CONSPIRING WITH REPUBLICAN LEADERS

TRUMAN FIRES MACARTHUR 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 11, 1951, President Harry S Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur from his command of United Nations forces in Korea.  The decision came after a long dispute between the Commander-in-Chief and the General.  

MacArthur personally told the President in a meeting in October 1950 that the probability of the Communist Chinese entering the war was "slim".  Then, later in the year, after Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River into Korea, MacArthur asked Truman for permission to bomb China.

General Omar Bradley disagreed with MacArthur's advice by saying...

"This is the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy". While President Truman said..."I believe we must try to limit the war in Korea....so there will be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy."

In his "Reminiscences," General MacArthur wrote...

"At one o'clock in the morning of April 11th, President Truman...announced my relief from command.  His action was fraught with politics, as he was...of the belief that I was conspiring...with Republican leaders.  This is completely erroneous."

The General went on to criticize the United Nations for "yielding to counsels of fear," and added regarding the argument that the fear that Russia would enter the war if the U.S. pressed for victory, "the entry of Soviet Russia...was a risk inherent in the original decision to intervene in Korea."

And despite Truman's dismissal of General MacArthur from command, the President wrote..."General MacArthur's place in history as one of our greatest commanders is fully established."  The General wrote that in his view "the supremacy of the civil over the military is fundamental to the American system of government."

JFK+50 NOTE

Truman's firing of MacArthur was widely criticized at the time.  The General was welcomed home with a ticker-tape parade and spoke before a joint session of Congress.  As the years have passed, however, there is a consensus among historians that Truman's action was the right one.  

SOURCE

"Reminiscences:  General of the Army Douglas MacArthur,"  McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1964.

MacArthur and Truman

WITH ALL THE HONOR A GRATEFUL NATION CAN BESTOW

DEATH OF GENERAL MAC

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) ) On April 5, 1964, Douglas MacArthur* died at the age of 84.  The Five Star General passed away at Walter Reed Hospital here in the Nation's Capital. 

President John F. Kennedy had pre-authorized a State Funeral and President Lyndon B. Johnson confirmed that action by ordering the General to be buried "with all the honor a grateful nation can bestow on a departed hero."

The General had also requested a week-long state funeral including his body lying in state at the 7th Regimental Armory in New York City, the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia and at the Capitol in Washington.

62,000 people passed by the General's casket in the rotunda of the MacArthur Memorial which would also be his final resting place.  Attending services for President Johnson were the Attorney-General and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy.

On March 12, 1962, Douglas MacArthur gave his acceptance speech for the Sylvanus Thayer Award to the cadets of West Point.  The General said...

"Duty, Honor Country:  Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be."


*Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas & graduated 1st in his class from the United States Military Academy in 1903. DM won 4 Silver Stars in WWI & the Distinguished Service Cross. 

DM fought in both world wars & was commander of Allied forces in the Pacific during WWII.  He commanded UN forces during the Korean Conflict.

SOURCES

"Douglas MacArthur", Biography, www.biography.com/

"General Douglas MacArthur, Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address," www.americanrhetoric.com/

"The Last Salute:  Civil and Military Funerals 1921-1969," www.history.army.mil/

MacArthur Memorial
Norfolk, Virginia
Photo by John White (2001)

MacArthur Memorial
Norfolk, Virginia
Photo by John White (2001)

MACARTHUR MEETS HIROHITO

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1726

MACARTHUR MET HIROHITO 70 YEARS AGO TODAY IN TOKYO

Tokyo, Japan (JFK+50) Seventy years ago today, September 27, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur met with Japanese Emperor Hirohito* at the Allied General Headquarters here in Tokyo.

MacArthur had arrived in Japan just two days earlier by order of President Harry S Truman to oversee the occupation of Japan following that nation's surrender ending World War II on September 2nd.

The General, accompanied only by an interpreter and photographer, met with the Emperor for about twenty minutes.  Since there was no written transcript made of this meeting, we do not know what was discussed.  The meeting took place in the Reception Room of Allied GHQ.

We do know that General MacArthur allowed three photographs to be taken of himself with the Emperor and that one of these was published the following day in Japanese newspapers and the New York Times.  Because the Emperor had been considered "divine," the publication in Japan served as a signal that MacArthur, not the Emperor, was now in charge.

During the six year occupation, MacArthur and Hirohito would meet less than a dozen more times, but the first meeting is the one that is remembered because of the iconic photograph of the two men which was taken by Lt. Gaetano Faillace, a member of the military camera corps.

The photo, shown below, shocked many people because of General MacArthur's nonchalant appearance.  Life Magazine wrote..."MacArthur did not trouble himself to put on a tie for the occasion."  Of the three images, the last was chosen as the one to be published because in the first MacArthur's eyes were closed, and in the second the Emperor's mouth was open.

According to Jim Zobel, assistant archivist at the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia, the copy on file in his facility, signed by both men, may be worth up to "six figures."  The Memorial's Artifacts Series on this photograph may be seen via YouTube embedded below.

*Hirohito (1901-1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989, was born in Tokyo and attended Gakushuin Peers' School and an institute for the Crown Prince.  Hirohito assumed the throne on the death of his father on Dec 25, 1926.  His reign ended with his death due to complications of pancreatic cancer.  Hirohito's funeral was attended by President George H.W. Bush.

SOURCES

"Did Hirohito apologize to MacArthur?," www.quora.com/

"Emperor Hirohito Meets U.S. General Douglas MacArthur," www.worldwar2database.com/

MacArthur Memorial, Norfolk, Virginia, www.macarthurmemorial.org/

"When MacArthur Met the Emperor," Iconic Photos, September 28, 2012, www.iconicphotos.wordpress.com/

General MacArthur & Emperor Hirohito

Allied General HQ, Tokyo

September 27, 1945

Photo by Lt. Gaetano Faillace

US Army Image