MacArthur’s four years at West Point tested his self-confidence and leadership. In the end, he proved he had the necessary skills and talents to succeed. On June 11, 1903, he graduated as a second lieutenant of Engineers.12 With all his academic rigor, his athletic challenges, and his moral and ethical tests, MacArthur had not yet experienced combat—the ultimate test of a military leader. West Point had given him something much more valuable and useful to a future five-star general—a bedrock commitment to the Academy’s motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.”
His father’s example, his mother’s motivation, and West Point’s education set Lieutenant MacArthur on a firm foundation. None of these factors, however, guaranteed MacArthur’s success. Like all newly minted officers, he had to prove himself in the crucible of command. From his commissioning in 1903 until his relief in 1951, MacArthur served the American or the Filipino government in some official military capacity. MacArthur began this forty-eight-year span as an engineer in his beloved Philippines, which would become the symbol of his greatest success. After his arrival in Manila, MacArthur conducted routine engineering duties that took him to locations that would become famous in World War II.13 In 1903, however, thoughts of global conflagration were far from MacArthur’s mind.
In April 1904 MacArthur left the Philippines for San Francisco. He performed harbor defense duties for a short time before he was reassigned to Japan in October 1905. In Japan he served as his father’s aide-de-camp, which gave the younger MacArthur a unique opportunity to observe the Far East and to meet key Japanese military leaders. During his tour MacArthur “encountered the boldness and courage” of the Japanese soldier for the first time. MacArthur was impressed with the Japanese soldier’s “almost fanatical belief in and reverence for his Emperor.” This experience left a lasting impression on the young MacArthur. More important, MacArthur developed a lifelong appreciation of Asia and its importance to the United States and its national interests. MacArthur never altered his views on the importance of Asia to America’s future, but he would not return to the Far East for another sixteen years.14
In 1906–7 MacArthur was an engineering student at Washington Barracks. He spent a short time as an aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, which allowed him the opportunity to observe the highest levels of decision making and formulation of strategic policy. Roosevelt also reinforced MacArthur’s Asian focus. “I greatly admired Theodore Roosevelt. His prophetic vision of Asian politics,” MacArthur observed, “marked him as a statesman of brilliant imagination.”15 This, of course, was an example of confirmation bias, but it certainly strengthened MacArthur’s predisposition toward Asia and perhaps affected how he viewed the presidency.
After working for the president, MacArthur returned to engineering duties in Milwaukee. Once again, he was responsible for rivers and harbors, but MacArthur did not have his heart in his duties. Major William V. Judson penned one of the few negative remarks found in MacArthur’s impeccable record. “I am of the opinion,” Judson concluded, “that Lieutenant MacArthur, while on duty under my immediate orders, did not conduct himself in a way to meet commendation, and that his duties were not performed in a satisfactory manner.”16 This pejorative remark had the potential to ruin MacArthur’s career. MacArthur protested Judson’s evaluation, but his attempts to remove the offending remarks were unsuccessful. If nothing else, the remarks taught MacArthur a poignant, albeit brief, lesson in humility.
MacArthur left Milwaukee in 1908 after he received orders for Fort Leavenworth and the 3rd Engineer Battalion. During his time in Kansas, the young MacArthur reestablished his slightly tarnished reputation and proved himself a dynamic and capable leader. Although he did not attend any of the Army Service Schools as a student while at Leavenworth, he lectured at the General Services School and at the Cavalry School at Fort Riley. Lieutenant MacArthur contributed a special lecture and pamphlet on military demolition for the Department of Engineering during the 1908–9 academic year. His lecture supplemented a curriculum that dealt with surveying, map reproduction, fortification problems, sketching, and fortress warfare. His was one of six lectures that augmented the regular engineering course offerings. The other lectures were focused largely on issues related to the Franco-Prussian War and the more recent Russo-Japanese War. MacArthur presented his special lecture to the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley in November 1908 and to the Staff College at Fort Leavenworth the following month. He gave his last lecture on military demolition to the School of the Line in January 1909.17 Although MacArthur’s contributions to the Leavenworth schools were minimal, the opportunity exposed the young lieutenant to the engineering aspects of the various curricula while enhancing his technical and professional skills as a junior officer.
Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur (seated on handrail) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1909. (Courtesy of the Frontier Army Museum, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas)
More important, MacArthur received his first command while at Fort Leavenworth. As the junior company commander, he received command of Company “K,” the lowest rated of twenty-one companies on post. MacArthur turned that situation around and made Company “K” the best through determined direction and hard work. He ultimately demonstrated his leadership when he became the 3rd Battalion’s adjutant. MacArthur later recalled that his assignment at Fort Leavenworth completed his “military education as a combat engineer.” Before he departed Leavenworth, MacArthur had completed career-enhancing temporary duty assignments to San Antonio in 1911 and to Panama in 1912.18
MacArthur’s Leavenworth assignment also brought him into contact with Robert L. Eichelberger and Walter Krueger. Both served as MacArthur’s Army commanders during World War II. George C. Marshall, who was a faculty member of the Engineering Department, was also at Leavenworth. According to William Manchester, however, the two future generals already “rubbed each other the wrong way.” Others commented on MacArthur’s abilities as a poker player and his enthusiastic participation on the post’s polo and baseball teams. Perhaps his most significant achievement was his ability to devise clever strategies to outwit his opponents. Heavily feeding his opponents before a baseball game was one such strategy. Another involved the payment of two Texas professionals to play for the post team. He identified them as West Point graduates to justify their participation.19 Both tacks achieved the desired end, although the means were questionable. These creative approaches to winning informed MacArthur’s strategy formulation during World War II. Winning, from MacArthur’s perspective, was the only option in sports and in war.
MacArthur became a captain in February 1911. Two years earlier, his famous father had retired to Milwaukee. While the elder MacArthur was speaking at the fiftieth reunion of the 24th Wisconsin Regiment on September 5, 1912, the hero of Missionary Ridge fell dead. Upon hearing the news, Douglas MacArthur remembered, “My whole world changed that night. Never have I been able to heal the wound in my heart.”20 His father had been a significant influence on his life and career, but his mother remained to encourage and guide MacArthur. Pinky moved to Fort Leavenworth after her husband’s death, and she followed her son to Washington with his assignment to the Office of the Chief of Staff in 1912.
As a junior officer on the General Staff, MacArthur saw military matters in a different light. Once again, he experienced the highest levels of Army bureaucracy normally not seen until one was a more senior officer. While he was in Washington, General Leonard Wood ordered him to Mexico to “study the land.” Tensions with Mexico had risen again in 1914, and Wood wanted MacArthur to analyze the situation and to provide an assessment. As part of his experience, MacArthur managed to escape an ambush while conducting his reconnaissance duties. He received a recommendation for the Medal of Honor for his actions behind Mexican lines and for his capture of three locomotives. The award was denied because MacArthur’s heroic activities “lacked proper prior authorization.”21 Regardless, he was promoted to major in December 1915. He was clearly on the fast track, but his proximity to key leadersh
ip coupled with the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917 provided an opportunity to soar even higher.
Major MacArthur had an unusual opportunity to influence American military policy in two key ways. On June 30, 1916, he became military assistant to the secretary of War. Newton Baker placed MacArthur in charge of the department’s Bureau of Information. Within a week, he became the Army’s first press secretary. “I was expected to explain our national military policy to the country,” MacArthur recalled, “and to shatter the prevailing delusion of a world living in security.” This experience provided insight few officers enjoyed; he used this knowledge of the media quite effectively throughout his career. MacArthur also affected policy regarding the National Guard. He advocated the use of the National Guard in combat. When asked how to employ these Guard units, MacArthur suggested that units from different states form a division. The resultant 42nd Division, which drew Guardsmen from twenty-six states, became the famous Rainbow Division.22
Major MacArthur. (Library of Congress)
Major General William A. Mann became the division’s commander, but he had no chief of staff. MacArthur assumed the position despite his junior rank. Secretary Baker remedied the situation by promoting him to colonel. Asked if he wanted the rank in the Engineer branch, MacArthur chose the Infantry. The new colonel influenced the selection of the overall American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander after news of General Frederick Funston’s premature death reached Washington. Baker asked MacArthur for his recommendation. MacArthur suggested John J. Pershing.23 His endorsement may have been a restatement of the obvious, but the fact that Baker sought his advice was indicative of the trust, power, and influence MacArthur had acquired.
By the time MacArthur and the Rainbow Division arrived in Europe, Major General Charles Menoher had replaced Mann.24 Colonel MacArthur sailed on October 18, 1917, and deployed with his division to training areas in eastern France. One of MacArthur’s first challenges was the possible dissolution of the division. The American headquarters at Chaumont considered using the 42nd for replacements to strengthen other divisions. As the division’s chief of staff and staunch proponent of maintaining the unit’s cohesion, MacArthur went to Pershing’s chief of staff to get the order revoked. It worked. “My action was probably not in strict accord with normal procedure,” MacArthur admitted, “and it created resentment against me among certain members of Pershing’s staff.”25 This was not the last time MacArthur circumvented the chain of command. It was also the genesis of MacArthur’s distrust and personal hatred for higher headquarters and the so-called Chaumont gang.
As soon as the 42nd made its way to the Luneville Sector in February 1918, Colonel MacArthur displayed the same courage and daring he had in the Philippines and in Mexico. There is always a fine line between inspired leadership and stupidity, but MacArthur’s daredevil actions were more of the former. As a leader and strategist, he preferred firsthand observation of the battlefield. This preference took him to the front lines more often than was typical of World War I commanders. MacArthur believed that an operation’s plan must consider the troop’s quality, the nature of the terrain, and the enemy’s intent and capability. Even with solid preparation, MacArthur understood that a plan would become “confused and fail.”26
His gutsy leadership style led to recognition for several meritorious actions during his deployment to Europe. MacArthur, for example, received the Croix de Guerre and the Silver Star for his “extraordinary heroism and gallantry in action” near Réchicourt in February 1918. He later earned the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in March 1918 for “coolness and conspicuous courage.”27 These were the first of many medals MacArthur earned for leadership and bravery. MacArthur’s reputation as a great combat leader was also reflected in the nicknames he acquired. With colorful sobriquets from “the d’Artagnan of the AEF” to the “fighting Dude,” his men willingly paid homage to his leadership.28
On June 26, 1918, MacArthur became the youngest brigadier general in the AEF. Barely fifteen years after his commissioning, MacArthur had outpaced his famous father. With the promotion came additional responsibility and new opportunities to prove his worth. The 42nd turned westward to join the French Fourth Army north of Suippes in early July. This position placed the unit on the primary road to Châlons-en-Champagne—the German offensive’s objective. The French conducted a defense in depth that repulsed the German assault. MacArthur received a second Silver Star for his heroic efforts that helped halt the German advance.29
On July 25, 1918, the 42nd Division relieved the 26th Division near Château Thierry. MacArthur described the next six days as “the bitterest days and nights of the war for the Rainbow.” The fighting was brutal. “Crawling forward in twos and threes against each stubborn nest of enemy guns,” MacArthur recollected, “we closed in with the bayonet and the hand grenade. It was savage and there was no quarter asked or given. It seemed to be endless.”30 By this point MacArthur had proven his mettle, but the thirty-eight-year-old one-star was destined for even greater accomplishments.
On July 31, 1918, General Menoher relieved the 42nd Division’s 84th Brigade commander and replaced him with MacArthur. By mid-October he had prepared his brigade for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In conjunction with the assault, General Charles Summerall demanded that the 84th secure a gap in the German lines near Côte de Châtillon. MacArthur led the assault; he was wounded and garnered his second DSC.31 Generals Menoher and Summerall cited MacArthur’s heroism. Summerall also nominated MacArthur for the Medal of Honor and recommended his promotion to major general. As had happened after his first nomination, for his actions in Mexico, the award was disapproved. The Chaumont Awards Board action further alienated MacArthur from the General Headquarters and played to his growing paranoia regarding higher headquarters in general.32
Brigadier General MacArthur in France, September 1918. (Courtesy of the National Archives, 111-SC-23921)
Whether MacArthur’s distrust of the Chaumont gang was justified is debatable, but his commitment to professional excellence and victory in Europe was unquestioned. In the war’s last major operation, MacArthur led part of the Allied movement that pressed toward Sedan in early November. Just before the Armistice, Menoher became the VI Corps commander, vacating the 42nd Division commander’s position. MacArthur took command, but the war’s end resulted in the suspension of all pending promotions. His brief tenure as division commander ended when he and other brigadier generals returned to their earlier positions. Brigadier General MacArthur and the 84th Brigade remained in Europe for occupation duty until April 1919. Upon their return stateside, MacArthur was disappointed with the lackluster greeting the 42nd received: “We reached New York on the 25th [April 1919] but where-oh-where was that welcome they told us of?”33 Despite his disappointment, MacArthur made the transition from wartime commander to peacetime leader with zeal and persistence.
MacArthur’s postwar assignment took him back to West Point. It had been sixteen years since he had graduated, but he was now a brigadier general and superintendent. His immediate concerns centered on the Academy’s curriculum and the Army’s need for high-quality junior officers. “West Point is forty years behind the times,” General Peyton March informed MacArthur; “West Point would have to be revitalized, the curriculum re-established.”34 March’s assessment was correct, but the challenge placed before MacArthur would prove virtually impossible to resolve completely during his tenure.
In addition to the curriculum, MacArthur also noted other impediments to improving West Point. One obstacle was the American tendency to “ignore security needs in the pleasanter times of peace.” Why maintain a military academy at all if there were to be no more wars? Moreover, if war did come, many felt that the Reserve Officer Training Corps would meet the nation’s military leadership needs. MacArthur disagreed. He understood the need for a professional officer base that West Point produced. The other challenge was economic. He was adamant that Congress fund the Academy and the l
arger Army properly to meet the nation’s security needs. He used an insurance metaphor to make his point: “Premiums must be paid to correspond with the needs of our country in peace or war.”35 His emphasis on preparedness was clear, but MacArthur could not control the antimilitary forces that dominated American society during the interwar period.
One of MacArthur’s primary goals as superintendent was to develop a new type of officer. This new officer must retain “all of the cardinal military virtues as of yore,” and he must also possess “an intense understanding of his fellows, a comprehensive grasp of world and national affairs, and a liberalization of conception which amounts to a change in his psychology of command.” These were lofty yet appropriate goals for the changed strategic environment of the interwar period. To maintain traditional virtues, MacArthur stressed duty, honor, and country. The new superintendent also deemphasized hazing and demanded that the cadet leadership enforce the honor code. The prohibition on lying, cheating, and stealing dated back to West Point’s early years, but its enforcement was left to the tactical officers. According to Geoffrey Perret, the Corps of Cadets was not pleased with MacArthur’s changes, but MacArthur’s actions altered existing hazing practices and forced the cadets to take ownership of the honor code. To enlarge the students’ appreciation of the wider world, he actively sought to deemphasize the cloistering of the cadets and got them involved beyond the Academy’s walls. His last action stressed athletics. He believed that sports were a great venue for cadets to learn how to perform as individuals, but they also allowed cadets to teach others. Under MacArthur’s tenure, every cadet participated in sports.36 It is difficult to evaluate fully the success of MacArthur’s measures to improve West Point, but he was proud of his efforts.
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