(1880-1964), general during
World War II and the
Korean War. MacArthur was chief of staff of the armed forces from 1930 to 1935; in 1932 he directed the suppression of the
bonus army. During World War II he led the American campaign in the Pacific. His defense of the Philippines at
Bataan and
Corregidor earned him the Medal of Honor, but his impending defeat prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to send him to Australia in 1942. When he left, he declared, "I shall return." MacArthur recaptured the Philippines in 1944 at
Leyte Gulf and accepted the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri in 1945.
After the war MacArthur took over as supreme commander of the Allied occupation forces in Japan and directed the establishment of a constitutional monarchy there. In 1950 he commanded U.N. forces in Korea, but differed with President Harry S. Truman over military strategy by wanting to extend the war into North Korea. MacArthur's public criticism of the government led Truman to remove him from command for insubordination in 1951. He received a hero's welcome on his return to America, and some conservative Republicans unsuccessfully tried to nominate him for the presidency in 1952 (as they had in 1948). He retired then from public life.
