Posted on 08/20/2016 9:57:10 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
When back in June 2015 Donald Trump announced he was running for president, he said during his speech, “I will find the General Patton or I will find General MacArthur. I will find the right guy. I will find the guy that’s going to take that military and make it really work.”
Since then, Trump has frequently mentioned Douglas MacArthur in his speeches. It is worth discussing his importance in American history, especially as we are approaching the 66th anniversary of Battle of Inchon. While MacArthur’s greatest achievement was the creation of modern Japan, the Inchon landing on September 15, 1950, was his finest hour.
It reversed nearly three months of defeats from June 25, 1950 when 89,000 North Korean troops invaded South Korea and took Seoul in just three days.
(snip)
The lack of good intelligence cost us dearly from the Korean War to attacks of the 9/11. We should never have to apologize to the bad guys when we need to get information out of them.
(snip)
General MacArthur famously said, “There’s no substitute for victory.” This is the most important lesson for the next president. We should not enter conflicts, and risk American lives, unless we intend to win.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
A great book.I have it in my library alongside The Patton Papers.
If the Versailles Treaty had been enforced, there wouldn’t have been a W.W. II.
Eisenhower always was a politician more than a soldier.
I assume you are talking about burning out the Bonus Army in Annacostia. George Patton was there too.
William Manchester’s book should be required reading for every American.
What made it necessary was the betrayal of America by Harry Truman’s Communists who helped their fellow travelers at every chance they could; and we still achieved our objective.
“If there is peace, there is no need for victory. I declare peace” Barack Obama
I first read Manchester’s “The Arms of Krupp”. Wonderful writing style in everything he did.
George W. Bush ignored that advice not once but twice. We will pay forW’s errors for generations to come.
that’s bullshit....he had Iraq won and in hand.....the current president failed to follow thru......
Politics and the current president screwed the pooch in Afghanistan.....
I agree. But in today's asymmetrical warfare environment, the above could be modified to "There’s no substitute for victory, coupled with a swift exit strategy.”
Yes. The entire Asian coast would have been an irradiated wasteland.
That's what it took to keep the Anglo-British-French alliance in Europe from fracturing.
MacArthur gets the credit. Matthew Ridgway was the hero of the Korean campaign.
. . .which, considering that war is politics by other means, is not altogether a bad thing.
Exactly right, jpsb. Good post.
I agree, but he made a crucial mistake in late Summer of 1944.
Several of us had a WWII+70 years thread discussion group here from 2008 to 2015. We studied and discussed the whole war, event by event. It was a rough consensus that had Ike not let Monty talk him into Market Garden, and instead insisted the effort be put toward capturing the Scheldt Estuary, the war in Europe could have been over by Christmas.
In early September, Antwerp was liberated with the docks intact, but the allies couldn't use it because the estuary was still in enemy hands. There was a window of several days before the Germans consolidated. Had Monty been paying attention, he could gotten control and opened up Antwerp. Instead, he focused on Market Garden, trying to show up Patton and Bradley.
The war at that time was a war of supply and logistics, and Antwerp was absolutely critical to solve those problems.
Somebody should have been fired over that
In Eisenhower’s case , he became too much of an Anglophile. always supporting Montgomery over Patton. Which general was the most feared and respected by the Germans, Montgomery or Patton? The answer is Patton.
Yes. The entire Asian coast would have been an irradiated wasteland.
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Exactly what PROOF do you have to support that statement?
Oh, the statement about Mac winning the war had proof.
When you make shit up out of thin air, it opens ALL the possibilities.
“We will pay forW’s errors for generations to come. “
You forgot, probably on purpose, both Clinton and Obama is that equation.
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