I wish my laptop wasn’t down right now (waiting for a new cooling fan), its hard to do anything from my wife’s computer, otherwise I would go into this in more detail and may still after I have my computer back.
I will say that the left doesn’t have a lot of trouble demonizing MacArthur because he really was that incompetent. Many of the items I’ve looked at on the man has nothing to do with the left’s attempts to smear the man because it is primary source material. No analysis, just the documentation that was generated at the time he made the missteps he did.
Just for example, I know I have mentioned that MacArthur received a tidy little payoff from President Quezon as things were quickly going south in January 1942. MacArthur was paid to his personal account from the Philippine treasury, $500,000 dollars. The motivation for the president of the Philippines to do this was most likely due to the protection MacArthur could allot to Quezon and his family even if Japan took over the entirety of the Philippines (Which when the money was ordered transferred on January 3rd this was already pretty evident).
This can all be traced to primary documentation and has nothing to do with a leftist smear campaign.
The order to give MacArthur the money is called Executive Order #1 and can be found in the personal papers of Manuel Quezon in the Philippine National Library. A trail of how that money moved afterwards can be found in National Archive files including Files of Division of Territories and Island Possessions, “9-7-4 Banking,” Legislative and Natural Resources Branch, as well as a thank you letter from Quezon to MacArthur that mentions Executive Order #1 from February 20, 1942 that’s located in Record Group 10, VIP files, MacArthur Memorial Bureau of Archives, Norfolk, VA.
I could go on but I have to run up to the university now sans laptop. grrr!!!!!
I look forward to your upcoming post.
Just for example, I know I have mentioned that MacArthur received a tidy little payoff from President Quezon as things were quickly going south in January 1942. MacArthur was paid to his personal account from the Philippine treasury, $500,000 dollars. The motivation for the president of the Philippines to do this was most likely due to the protection MacArthur could allot to Quezon and his family even if Japan took over the entirety of the Philippines (Which when the money was ordered transferred on January 3rd this was already pretty evident).
That's just a drop in the bucket compared to the total compensation MacArthur received from Quezon. Remember, MacArthur held the rank of Field Marshal in the Philippine army.
Off the top of my head, I don't recall if MacArthur said there were any agreements between he and FDR concerning dual loyalties as condition for his coming out of retirement in late July 1941.
Keep in mind when piling blame for loss of the Philippines on MacArthur that he only took command of U.S. forces in the Philippines barely four months before the Japanese attacked.