Douglas MacArthur, a key military figure in the American recovery of the Pacific during World War II, its occupation of Japan, and the subsequent, ill-starred incursion into North Korea, provoked widely varying opinions even at the height of his fame. George Stratemeyer, his top air officer in Japan, called him "the greatest man in history", yet Franklin Roosevelt considered his defence of Corregidor "criminal" and Harry Truman declared his return to the Philippines "a fiasco". This biography provides a critical study of the "American Caesar", whose delayed reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbour cost the USA nearly all of its Philippines-based B-17 bombers, whose interference in foreign policy was often destructive, and whose attempts to become President can best be described as futile. Professor Schaller's portrait of a man torn between talent and opportunism, duty and ego, also provides background to current American relations with the Far East.
- ISBN10 0195063325
- ISBN13 9780195063325
- Publish Date 7 June 1990 (first published 4 May 1989)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 21 May 1999
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 333
- Language English