It's a Marine Thing.
MacArthur got a bad rap.
Picture a commander being told to get out of Dodge, leave your poorly-equipped / supplied command and men behind to face an onslaught of Japanese troops.
43,000 battle-hardened Japanese troops faced off against 15,000 Americans and approx 70,000 poorly-trained, poorly-equipped Filipinos.
The Pacific fleet sat on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. The Far East air fleet was destroyed on the tarmac. The Japanese owned the sky and the sea for the time being.
Those valiant troops on Bataan held the Japs at bay for three months and slaughtered them, all the while performing a fighting retreat further and further into the Bataan jungle, with no hope of resupply, or relief. They did so much damage to the Japs that General Homma was going to commit ritual seppuku in front of the Emperor out of humiliation. One of the reasons the Death March happened was because of the humiliation the Japs endured at the hands of the Americans and Filipino defenders.
FDR ordered MacArthur to leave; the Japanese were broadcasting over the radio, saying they were going to publicly HANG MacArthur and his family when they captured him. FDR ordered him to leave and get to Australia to start to organize and build up there.
And he went back in force later... as he promised.
He planned an amazing landing at Inchon later on in Korea, and was absolutely correct in that China and Russia were the real enemy behind that war.
That’s a LIE!