25 - MacArthur
The WW2 Podcast
Angus Wallace
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2016
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode I'm looking at Douglas MacArthur with Walter Borneman.
MacArthur is one of those personalities that war throws up which I find hard to pin down. They have a big personalities and seemingly a huge confidence within themselves that overrides everything else (another two examples for me would be Monty and Patton).
The media generated about them at the time seems to put them on a pedestal, its hard to see through that hype to figure out how good they actually were.
Since I started the podcast MacArthur was in my top ten of topics to cover, so I was thrilled to see a new book on him "MacArthur at War: WWII in the Pacific" by Walter Borneman. I highly recommend you give it a read, its a balance look which at times has you disbelieving he was allowed to continue in command, at other times you see his ability shine through. He undoubtedly was a very complex man.
Transcript
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| 0:41.4 | Hello and welcome to another World War II podcast I'm Angus Waller. podcast. MacArthur is one of those personalities that War throws up which I find very hard to |
| 0:54.7 | pin down. They are big personalities and seemingly huge confidence within themselves that |
| 1:00.3 | overrides everything else. Another two examples for me would be Monty and Patton. |
| 1:05.6 | I'm joined by Walter Borman, author of MacArthur at War, World War II in the Pacific. |
| 1:12.3 | Thank you for joining me Walter. I think we need to start with |
| 1:16.2 | Douglas MacArthur's background. Where did he come from? What is his background? |
| 1:20.8 | MacArthur was very definitely a 19th century man and I think that has a lot to do with some of his |
| 1:29.0 | old theories and views as as World War II goes on. But he's born in 1880. His father is a Civil War veteran who has |
| 1:38.3 | led a relatively famous charge of Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Chattanooga and it's a charge that I think he tells his fun about many many times and always in the back of Douglas MacArthur's mind, I think, is his attempt to rise to this level of a great hero and great leader like his father was. |
| 2:01.0 | And of course he followed in his father's footsteps. His father had not gone to West Point, but Douglas does |
| 2:07.1 | graduating in 1903 first in his class and then he spends a fair amount of time in the Philippines before the First World War |
| 2:15.8 | goes to France in World War I, is engaged in the trench warfare there with the famous Rainbow Division made up of a number of American National Guard units and he really establishes himself as a front line soldier, a front line leader. |
| 2:34.2 | I think you prior to World War I that sort of illustrated where he's when he's recommended |
| 2:38.9 | for the Medal of Honor in 1914. |
| 2:41.3 | Yes, that's just before World War I. |
... |
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