Often referred to as the American Caesar. Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was one of the most important and talked about leaders of World War II. He graduated first in his class at West Point in 1903 and was wounded and decorated in 1917 during World War I. Apointed to command the U.S. military in the Philippines in 1935. MacArthur gained world attention during the heroic defense of the islands from 1941 to 1942. Later, in 1945 MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese and became the supreme commander for the Allied powers in Japan. He oversaw Japan's rapid reconstruction between 1945 and 1951, then went on to lead the American forces in the Korean War. Although he sometimes proved himself a brilliant strategist. MacArthur was often described by his colleagues as temperamental, ambitious, overly dramatic, and conceited. Bellieving that his opinions should never be questioned he regularly argued with his advisers and even his superiors. It was such a disagreement that led President Truman to fire him from his post in Korea in 1951.Always controversial MacArthur divided the American public into those who hated him because he was power-hungry and self-centered and those who loved him as a larger-than-life national hero. Before leaving the Philippines he promised to return to liberate it from the Japanese.
