army chief of staff

As you know, the nation is going through a process of reviewing Confederate leaders through a clearer lens, clearing away the mythology around them that emerged to justify their actions after the end of the Civil War.  I see this as right and appropriate.

But I also think it’s time to contemplate General MacArthur through a clearer lens.  And if we do this, we realize:

• He was an unabashed liar, regularly committing what we would refer at Annapolis as honor violations of the type that would have gotten any other military officer fired.
• He was a narcissist of the degree to which made George Patton look like a humble man.
• He was self-delusional about his military prowess, believing that he and he alone had the ability to win this war in a largely naval theater, when in fact his actions likely extended it.
• He was a known pedophile who at the age of 50 took in a 16-year-old girl as his live-in concubine
• As Army Chief of Staff he used Army mounted cavalry and tanks against protesting World War I veterans in an event referred to as the Bonus March demonstrations.
• In my view, rather than being a military genius, for his part in the execution of questionable campaigns that contributed to the deaths of thousands of Americans, I see him as the worst American general since another General Mac— George McClellan. 
• About the only good thing I can say about him is he performed admirably in World War I when he far less responsibility and in his leadership of occupied Japan.

A lot of this is going to sound like 20-20 hindsight, but in the military we have this thing called the After Action Report or AAR that is 100% 20-20 hindsight.  The whole purpose of the AAR is to overcome the fog of war and look back on what really happened so that we can learn from it.

- This conversation was recorded virtually in April, 2021 -

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