[fso301]

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.

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.

[CougarGA7]

I would hardly call $500,000 in 1941 dollars a drop in the bucket, but he did receive a rather large salary as well. Again from the VIP papers, he received a salary as Field Marshal of 36,000 pesos a year (about 18k U.S.) and a petty cash fund of another 30,000 pesos, (15k U.S.). That is a pretty large salary even for a Field Marshal. MacArthur also insisted on being provided with a seven room fully air conditioned suite at the Manila Hotel.

Also, it is important to note that MacArthur was in command of the forces on the Philippines since the end of 1935 (though I think he didn’t actually arrive in the Philippines until the beginning of 1936). MacArthur was specifically sent to the Philippines to develop the Filipino Army. This “citizen army” that MacArthur had been trying to develop represented a large contingent of the combatants against the Japanese. Even the U.S. forces he inherited only four months before the beginning of hostilities were composed of over 50% Filipino Scouts. MacArthur had a pretty heavy hand in the composition of the defenses on the Philippines for the last 5 years, so it’s hard to give him a pass just because the 11,000 some odd Americans added to his forces were a last minute addition.