General Douglas MacArthur
"There Is No Substitute For Victory."
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MacArthur Returns to Arkansas
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Former General Douglas MacArthur was to return to the state of his birth only once following his dismissal in Korea by President Harry S. Truman. That brief half-day stay, however, was in many ways as triumphal as the one in 1944 when he “returned” to the Philippines. On March 23, 1952, in the midst of the campaign for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, General MacArthur, wearing his signature military cap and sun glasses, and smoking his pipe, appeared at Fort Dodge in Little Rock, AR. An estimated 26,000 people were on hand to listen to his address.

Even though he denied it at times, MacArthur had long yearned to be President. A great orator and among the greatest heroes of his country’s military history, MacArthur, because of assignments in the far Pacific regions, had never been able to campaign directly to the American people. Now, he had his chance. Expressing a strong right-wing Republican message during the height of the McCarthy war on communism, the General came to Arkansas hoping he would succeed Truman in the Oval Office. On this day, MacArthur is not in a combative mood. Rather this is a time to reflect on his return to the site of his birth and baptism.

Fort Dodge, the site of his birth on January 26, 1880, in many ways reflected MacArthur’s entire life. The son of General Arthur MacArthur, and related to both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, young Douglas was nurtured to be military, to exhibit courage, and to rise to the top of the American military.

Early in his life, MacArthur lived on one small Army installation after another. In 1899, he entered the school that was to provide him roots throughout his career: The United States Military Academy. The Academy’s motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” he adopted as his own. It was there that he attained the third highest score in USMA history.

Over the next decades, MacArthur combined his great military genius, raw courage, and family connections through an extraordinarily long and glorious career that included the Philippine insurrection of 1903, the Mexican-American War, and World War I, where he helped organize the famed 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division. It was in the great world war that MacArthur attained the rank of Brigadier General. Twice wounded, he received many decorations for bravery.

In 1919, he returned to his beloved West Point to serve as its superintendent. There he modernized the curriculum and raised academic standards while placing greater emphasis on athletics. In 1930, he was named the Army Chief of Staff. However, with a depression paralyzing America, his efforts were generally unsuccessful as the Army was vastly underfunded, the personnel poorly trained, the military equipment antiquated, and most important seemed to ignore impending world threats.

After his retirement, President Roosevelt heeded Philippine concerns about impending Japanese aggression. He “loaned” MacArthur to the Filipinos as a military adviser with the rank of Field Marshal. With war looming, he was recalled to active duty as commander of the U. S. Army Forces in the Far West.

With meager supplies and manpower, MacArthur had made little progress by the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Inexplicably, MacArthur did little to prepare for the Japanese bombing of Clark Field north of Manila that took place soon thereafter. On December 22, a large Japanese invasion of the Philippines was essentially uncontested.

One hundred twenty days later, the Bataan peninsula fell to the Japanese while remaining American army remnants held out on the island of Corregidor. Meanwhile, at the order of FDR, MacArthur and his family (wife, Jean, and son, Arthur) were taken to Australia in March, 1942, to lead America’s forces in the southern Pacific. When asked by a reporter what his plans were, MacArthur said “I came through and I shall return.”

During the next three years, MacArthur led a series of land, sea, and air efforts against the Japanese in vicious battles in New Guinea and numerous strategic islands. Eventually MacArthur fulfilled his promise when, on October 20, 1944, American forces reached the Philippines.

Designated as commander of the invasion of Japan, MacArthur was preparing for the most bloody battle in human history. Fortunately, the invasion became unnecessary as the result of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent unconditional surrender of Japan. MacArthur did, however, lead the surrender ceremonies aboard the U. S. S. Missouri, an event that officially ended World War II.

Now a world hero, MacArthur was assigned the Supreme Command of Japan’s reconstruction. With the quiet cooperation of Japanese emperor Hirohito, MacArthur’s efforts brought rapid and peaceful changes to Japanese government and society. Having previously experienced the Japanese and their way of life in his early career, MacArthur was able to succeed when others, with less understanding of the oriental mind, would have failed. He disarmed the Japanese military, established a liberal government, instituted land reform, and restored the country’s shattered industry. He also abolished the nobility and brought about other social changes.

On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Seventy-year-old MacArthur was once more called upon by his country to serve as the overall commander, this time of United Nations’ forces. He masterminded the landing of troops at Inchon, west of Seoul. These forces, combined with a counter offensive of the Eighth Army within the Pusan perimeter, beat the North Korean forces back past the 38th parallel.

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Setting: MARCH 23, 1952
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The date is March 23, 1952; and you are one of some 26,000 people meeting, greeting, and cheering General Douglas MacArthur in Little Rock, Arkansas, the site of his birth and baptism in 1880. General MacArthur, accompanied by his wife, Jean and son, Arthur, have worshipped at Christ Episcopal Church, toured the army barracks where his family lived when he was born, dedicated a rose garden, delivered a short speech, attended a private dinner, and faced an army of photographers. Now at the invitation of Bishop Bland Mitchell, Episcopal Bishop of Arkansas, he has returned to Christ Church to reminiscence about his extraordinary 54-year military career. So now let us go back in time to the Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, as Bishop Mitchell introduces General MacArthur.

Bishop Bland Mitchell:
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It was Easter time in 1942 when Dr. W. P. Witsell, Rector of Christ Church, sent the following cable to Australia: Church of your Baptism—Christ Church, Little Rock, Arkansas—sends Easter greetings and expression of faith and loving pride in you. General MacArthur had just arrived in Australia after an almost miraculous escape from Corregidor in the Philippines. The whole world as we knew it seemed to be threatened.

To our great delight, this reply immediately arrived: Rev. W. P. Witsell, Rector of Christ Church, Little Rock, Arkansas. At the Altar, where I first joined the Sanctuary of God, I ask that you will seek Divine guidance for me in the great struggle that looms ahead.

Now, almost exactly ten years later and some seventy-two years following his baptism, General MacArthur, the most decorated soldier in American history, has returned to us for a brief time. Because his life story is such an inspiration to so many, we have asked him to share some of his life’s highlights. Once again, the General has responded graciously and agreed to share his life story. We are all honored by his acceptance.

Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur.