“I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.”
C-sucker. Although I will agree that Mac was a self absorbed general. If this c-sucker would have let Mac do what he wanted to do, we wouldnt be in the fix we are in today with the NORKs.
His decision to drop the bombs on Japan were entirely correct. If my two uncles were alive they would attest to that since one had put all his personal belongings into a manila envelope and had instructions on it to send to his Mom and Pop when..and I SAY WHEN he was killed in the invasion of the main island.
The other was on the USS Missouri and would have been in on the attack. He was on the mighty Mo at the surrender.
I guess there was a HELL of a party after they dropped that bomb and the Japanese surrendered.
We celebrated D-Day this week and it kind of sticks in my craw that we never celebrate the most brutal of that war-the fighting in the Pacific. There was just about no quarter in that area of the war.
That is all..
MacArthur’s relief was probably warranted by his actions, but his treatment of Truman was not much different than the way he treated Roosevelt.
Truman’s relationship with the military went way beyond his beef with MacArthur. Truman’s maternal grandparents were farmers in Jackson Co, MO (county where Kansas City is located) before and during the Civil War. They were Southern sympathizers. Their farm was raided and destroyed by Jayhawkers and their family had to seek refuge in Kansas City. Four border counties in Western Missouri, including Jackson County and Cass County, where Truman later lived, comprised the “Burnt District”. The Union Army burnt almost every farm in those counties, including union supporters, excepting towns with Union Army garrison. Thousands of farms disappeared. Truman tried and failed to get into West Point. In WWI, he served as an Artillery Captain in a National Guard division where he believed they were disrespected by the Regular Army.
After the war, he was a Reserve Colonel, commanding a Reserve Field Artillery Regiment, a paper unit with only an officer cadre. In 1942, he asked to be called to active duty and wanted to command his Regiment. Truman’s request was denied. At that time, he was 58. Moreover, he was not a graduate of the Command and General Staff College. General Marshall wanted Generals and Colonels in combat zones to be under 50 and graduates of the Staff College. Very few exceptions were ever granted. One exception was MacArthur who was already retired when WWII started. Truman had a feud with the Army and specifically with MacArthur whom he considered to be arrogant (Do you think?). Of course, Truman had disagreements with the Navy and Marines as well, with the unions, his own party, the Congress, and music lovers. He was certainly a Trump prototype.
Nine days after D-Day, the Marines landed on Saipan. If it had been necessary, the invasion of Japan would have made D-Day look like a dress rehearsal.
Then there’s the whole starting the CIA thing...