MacArthur Memorial Podcast

On September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s surrender in a carefully choreographed ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Many people think that MacArthur landed in Japan after the ceremony and then began the Occupation. In fact, MacArthur had already been living in Japan for several days prior to the surrender. What was he doing during that time? How did it influence...

George Kenney has been described as a “complete airman” and as one of Hap Arnold’s “best-kept secrets.” He wasn’t well known outside of aviation circles in the pre-WWII period and never made a name for himself like Jimmy Doolittle or Carl Spaatz, but he was one of MacArthur’s greatest assets during World War II. Without Kenney, it's arguable that MacArthur’s vision of Island Hopping would nev...

It is no secret that Douglas MacArthur’s relationship with the US Navy and the USMC was complicated in WWII – but what about during the Korean War? The Korean War was a very different war – but just as in WWII, the USN and the USMC would play a major role in MacArthur’s operations. In this latest episode, MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams discuss some of those operations...

Interservice rivalry between the US Navy and the US Army was a major factor in the Pacific Theatre during World War II.  While such rivalry is common in all militaries because each service has to compete for funding and stake out a unique identity and mission, some scholars argue that in the case of the Pacific Theatre, the rivalry was so problematic that it led to inefficiencies in the conduct of...

It is often said that General Douglas MacArthur didn’t have a staff, he had a court. While there were certainly a few courtiers on his staff, there were also some incredibly gifted men around him – men whose talents helped make MacArthur’s vision for the war in the Pacific a success during World War II, and men whose talents might have led to a different Korean War. General Walter Krueger was one...

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war against Japan, Germany and Italy, the Roosevelt Administration had to figure out what to do with hundreds of Axis diplomats in the United States. Repatriation was the goal but working that out between the warring powers would take time. While this was worked out, the detainees, their families, and staffs would have to be held...

When most people think of the USN admirals in the Pacific during WWII, Nimitz, Halsey, Kinkaid, and Spruance come easily to mind. Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee is less well known. A career naval officer and a seven-time Olympic medalist, during World War II he played a key role in the Pacific as one of the USN’s top combat admirals. To shed some light on Lee’s career and legacy, the MacArthur Memoria...

The MacArthur Memorial is located in Norfolk, VA – the hometown of General Douglas MacArthur’s mother – Mary Hardy. MacArthur himself was born in Little Rock, AR and as the child of a career Army officer, he spent most of his youth moving from post to post. So what place was most like a hometown for him? Was it Norfolk (as he sometimes claimed)? Was it Little Rock? Was it a military fort in the Am...

On the MacArthur Memorial's WWI History Podcast, Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams discussed the relationship between Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall during WWI. While both men were certainly aware of each other during that war, contrary to what some MacArthur biographers suggest, there were no seeds of antagonism between them during that war. By WWII and the Korean War, both were still ser...

In January 1944, a small group of sixteen enlisted men gathered at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois to begin an accelerated course that would turn them into the US Navy's first African American officers on active duty. They all knew that if they failed, their failure would continue to justify US Navy policy that prohibited African American officers. Against all odds, all the...

Similar to World War I, World War II had a profound effect on the European wine industry.  From labor shortages to Nazi looting, it was a very difficult time for the industry - but it was also a period that produced some standout war year vintages. To discuss  wine and World War II, the MacArthur Memorial Podcast recently hosted Walter Wolf III—a lawyer, military historian, and wine expert. The co...

Douglas MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880 in Little Rock, Arkansas. While little is known of his birthdays prior to World War II, as a senior leader during World War II and the occupation of Japan, his birthday took on more diplomatic significance. Following his return to the United States, an annual birthday dinner/SWPA reunion was held in the dining room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where h...

During WWII, Allied POWs in the Pacific Theatre – whether combatant or civilian – faced physical and psychological hardships. Captivity is difficult. It is particularly difficult when access to food is irregular or insufficient because food is often associated with a sense of security, comfort, health, and memory.  For many of the civilian POWs held at Santo Tomas internment camp in Manila, recipe...

During World War II, about 16 million people from all walks of life served in the U.S. military. This number included many of the top celebrities of the day – so much so that historians often refer to the period as a time when “Hollywood went to war.” Stars like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart famously joined the military – as did many others in the entertainment industry. Some fought on the front l...

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked American military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and propelled the United States into the Second World War. To mark the 80th anniversary of the attack, the MacArthur Memorial and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum partnered to host a special commemorative lecture by historian Walter Borneman about his book Brothers Down , t...

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Bilibid Prison served as a POW and a civilian internment camp. Prior to liberation in February 1945, thousands of POWs were processed through Bilibid before boarding the infamous "hellships" that would take them to forced labor camps throughout the Pacific. The camp also held hundreds of Allied civilians in deteriorating conditions.  Joi...

Mexico was one of the Allies in World War II – but it didn’t just help secure the US border or provide raw materials in support of the war – it contributed a fighter squadron that saw combat in the Pacific Theatre. Few people in the United States are aware of this history, and many Pacific War historians tend to overlook Mexico’s contribution to the war. Nevertheless, the participation of that squ...

Even historians who loathe General MacArthur tend to agree that the administration of the Occupation of Japan was MacArthur at his best. However, many people don’t realize how much was happening in just the first month of the Occupation, how much could have gone wrong, and how deftly MacArthur was managing a very fluid situation. September 1945 was a tour de force of organizational ability,  a mas...

On September 5, 1912, Arthur MacArthur, Jr., a career army officer and the father of Douglas MacArthur, collapsed and died as he was giving a speech. His sudden death shook the entire MacArthur family. Decades later, Douglas MacArthur wrote: “My whole world changed that night. Never have I been able to heal the wound in my heart.” To  discuss  Arthur MacArthur's legacy and his death, we sat d...

In 1904 a young Second Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur and recent law school graduate Manuel Quezon met for the first time at a dinner in Manila. Over the next several decades, both men developed a strong but complicated relationship. This relationship would have a major impact on the Second World War’s Philippine Campaign of 1941-1942 and the future of the Philippines after liberation in 1944-1945....

In July 1961, an 81-year-old General MacArthur made a ten-day farewell trip to the Philippines to mark the fifteenth anniversary of Philippine independence. President John F. Kennedy was delighted to see MacArthur honored in this way and helped facilitate the trip by putting a Boeing 707 from the Military Air Transport Service at MacArthur’s disposal. It was a particularly moving visit and in Mani...

On March 11, 1942 General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and select members of his staff boarded several PT Boats and began a dangerous escape attempt that would take them from the doomed Philippines to the relative safety of Australia, where MacArthur would make the "I Shall Return" promise. Through the years, there have been a number of questions about MacArthur's escape. Why did...

During World War II, while weapons, ammunition, ships, planes, tanks, etc, were always a big focus, theatre commanders also understood the value of troop morale and went to great lengths to secure things like Coca-Cola, or ice cream, or beer, movies, or music for their troops – even in the most far flung areas of the war. Music was a particularly satisfying treat – and military bands were a big pa...

Douglas MacArthur biographer D. Clayton James, credited General MacArthur’s mother, Mary “Pinky” Hardy, with instilling in her son “an almost mystical” sense of heritage, duty, and a burning desire to carry on and surpass the achievements of his predecessors. Every MacArthur biographer has analyzed their relationship to try to better understand or explain the general. But who was she??  Have a com...

During World War II, Army personnel nicknamed US Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and Major General James A. Ulio the “heavenly trinity.” Why? Because the names of these three men appeared on all Army orders from Washington. Marshall and Stimson are well known today, but Ulio’s role in World War II is less known. To explore Ulio's many contributi...