American Caesar

This enormous biography of Douglas MacArthur mesmerized me, but I kept wondering, “Why would Manchester, a Marine combat veteran, write about such an un-Marine-like Army general?” Then I got to the part about Inchon, the daring amphibious landing MacArthur devised to alter the Korean War’s trajectory.

Manchester wrote glowingly of the Marines who executed MacArthur’s plan. However, throughout the book, he wrote more glowingly about MacArthur’s idiosyncratic genius. I realized something. The Marines were tough enough to make Inchon successful but not smart enough to think it up. It took a general from another service to provide the vision.

Manchester’s biography of Douglas MacArthur provides a sympathetic but generally evenhanded characterization of MacArthur’s personality and life contributions.  He provides a detailed background of MacArthur’s military history and his capability of managing complex administrative duties in a complex world.  He acknowledged MacArthur’s skill and bravery in challenging circumstances.  In balance of his descriptions of MacArthur, he also noted complex circumstances in which he was difficult to deal with and sometimes suspicious and mistrustful of others. In his characterization of MacArthur as “Julius Caesar” he characterized MacArthur as having great intellect, brilliant strategic generalship, and political ambition as well as compassion.