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The Shogun's Constitution: Macarthur & the Making of Modern Japan “The People Themselves Control Their Own Constituti

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The Shogun's Constitution: Macarthur & the Making of Modern Japan “The People Themselves Control Their Own Constituti THE SHOGUN’S CONSTITUTION: MACARTHUR & THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN “THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES CONTROL THEIR OWN CONSTITUTION AND ARE, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, THE SOVEREIGNS OF THEIR OWN LAND.” -DOUGLAS MACARTHUR DOUGLAS MACARTHUR (JANUARY 26, 1880 – APRIL 5,1964) ‘DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY’ — THOSE THREE HALLOWED WORDS REVERENTLY DICTATE WHAT YOU OUGHT TO BE, WHAT YOU CAN BE, WHAT YOU WILL BE. THEY ARE YOUR RALLYING POINT TO BUILD COURAGE WHEN COURAGE SEEMS TO FAIL, TO REGAIN FAITH WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE LITTLE CAUSE FOR FAITH, TO CREATE HOPE WHEN HOPE BECOMES FORLORN....-DOUGLAS MACARTHUR DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, GENERAL OF THE ARMY (5-STARS), WEST POINT GRADUATE, SERVED AS A GENERAL OFFICER IN WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, & KOREA; MILITARY ADVISOR TO THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES & FIELD MARSHALL OF THE PHILIPPINE ARMY; DECORATIONS: RECIPIENT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR; AWARDED THREE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSSES, SEVEN SILVER STARS, & TWO PURPLE HEARTS; THE LÉGION D'HONNEUR & CROIX DE GUERRE FROM FRANCE; THE HONORARY KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH FROM AUSTRALIA; THE ORDER OF THE RISING SUN, GRAND CORDON FROM JAPAN; SUPREME COMMANDER, SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA IN WORLD WAR II; SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS DURING THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN; COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE UNITED NATIONS FORCES IN THE KOREAN CONFLICT “ARTHUR MACARTHUR WAS THE MOST FLAMBOYANTLY EGOTISTICAL MAN I HAD EVER SEEN, UNTIL I MET HIS SON.” -ENOCH H. CROWDER “THE BEST AND THE WORST THINGS YOU HEAR ABOUT HIM ARE BOTH TRUE.” -SIR THOMAS BLAMEY, AUSTRALIAN FIELD MARSHALL “DOUGLAS MACARTHUR WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST GENERALS AMERICA HAS PRODUCED. HE WAS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST FLAMBOYANT, AND AS A RESULT HIS PERSONAL STYLE SOMETIMES ATTRACTED MORE ATTENTION THAN HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS. BECAUSE OF HIS ARISTOCRATIC BEARING AND GRANDILOQUENT SPEECH, HE MADE AN EASY TARGET FOR TASTEMAKERS AND SATIRISTS, WHO PORTRAYED HIM AS A VAINGLORIOUS ANACHRONISM, A HAUGHTY VICTORIAN BORN FIFTY YEARS TOO LATE.” -RICHARD NIXON, LEADERS “HE WAS AS GREAT AS A MAN COULD BE WITHOUT VIRTUE, AND AS WISE AS A MAN COULD BE WITHOUT MODESTY.” -ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE ON NAPOLEON “DOUGLAS MACARTHUR NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED THE BASIC TENET OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: THAT THE MILITARY IS SUBORDINATE TO CIVILIAN CONTROL. HE MOVED QUITE EASILY BETWEEN CIVIL AND MILITARY WORLDS BECAUSE HE SAW HIMSELF AT THE APEX OF BOTH. INDEED, DOUGLAS MACARTHUR FOUGHT MANY MILITARY AND POLITICAL BATTLES OVER THE COURSE OF HIS CAREER- WINNING SOME, LOSING OTHERS- BUT HIS GREATEST LOSS CAME IN A CAMPAIGN HE WAGED HIS ENTIRE LIFE: THE ONE AGAINST HIMSELF. HE WAS BRILLIANT, CHARISMATIC, AND DECISIVE, BUT HE WAS ALSO MANIPULATIVE, DECEITFUL, AND AS EGOCENTRIC AS ANY MILITARY LEADER IN AMERICAN HISTORY- THE "GEORGE TRIO" OF GEORGE MCCLELLAN, GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER, AND GEORGE S. PATTON BEING HIS ONLY CLOSE COMPETITION.” -WALTER R. BORNEMAN, MACARTHUR AT WAR MACARTHUR & EISENHOWER EISENHOWER WAS MACARTHUR'S AID DURING THE 1930’S. IKE RECOGNIZED MACARTHUR’S ABILITIES & QUALITIES. HOWEVER, HE COULD NOT ABIDE WITH MACARTHUR’S PENCHANT FOR THEATRICS. THEY WERE STUDIES IN CONTRAST, & WERE DERISIVE OF EACH OTHER AS IKE’S STAR ROSE. MACARTHUR SAID IKE WAS THE “BEST CLERK I EVER HAD” & FOR EISENHOWER "MACARTHUR COULD NEVER SEE ANOTHER SUN, OR EVEN A MOON FOR THAT MATTER, IN THE HEAVENS, AS LONG AS HE WAS THE SUN.” ON HEARING OF MACARTHUR’S FIRING BY PRESIDENT TRUMAN, IKE SAID THERE ARE CERTAIN PRIVILEGES YOU GIVE UP WHEN YOU PUT ON THE UNIFORM. “DOUGLAS, YOU ARE OUR GREATEST GENERAL BUT I AM CONVINCED YOU WOULD BE OUR WORST POLITICIAN.”-FDR HE WAS A GREAT THUNDERING PARADOX OF A MAN, NOBLE AND IGNOBLE, INSPIRING AND OUTRAGEOUS, ARROGANT AND SHY, THE BEST OF MEN AND THE WORST OF MEN, THE MOST PROTEAN, THE MOST RIDICULOUS, AND MOST SUBLIME. NO MORE BAFFLING, EXASPERATING A SOLDIER EVER WORE THE UNIFORM. FLAMBOYANT, IMPERIOUS, AND APOCALYPTIC, HE CARRIED THE PLUMAGE OF A FLAMINGO, COULD NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ERRORS, AND TRIED TO COVER UP MISTAKES WITH SLY, CHILDISH TRICKS. YET HE WAS ALSO ENDOWED WITH GREAT PERSONAL CHARM, A WILL OF IRON, AND A SOARING INTELLECT. UNQUESTIONABLY HE WAS THE MOST GIFTED MAN- AT-ARMS THIS NATION HAS PRODUCED. -WILLIAM MANCHESTER, AMERICAN CAESAR CAESAR WAS NOT AND IS NOT LOVABLE. HIS GENEROSITY TO DEFEATED OPPONENTS, MAGNANIMOUS THOUGH IT WAS, DID NOT WIN THEIR AFFECTION. HE WON VICTORIES THAT HIS INTELLECTUAL ABILITY, APPLIED TO WARFARE, BROUGHT THEM. YET, THOUGH NOT LOVABLE, CAESAR WAS AND IS ATTRACTIVE, INDEED FASCINATING. HIS POLITICAL ACHIEVEMENT REQUIRED ABILITY, IN EFFECT AMOUNTING TO GENIUS, IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT FIELDS, INCLUDING ADMINISTRATION AND GENERALSHIP, BESIDES THE MINOR ARTS OF WIRE PULLING AND PROPAGANDA. IN ALL THESE, CAESAR WAS A SUPREME VIRTUOSO. -ARNOLD TOYNBEE AN AMERICAN SHOGUN GAIJIN SHŌGUN (外人将軍) FOR SEVEN CENTURIES, JAPAN WAS LED BY SHOGUNS, FEUDAL MILITARY LORDS WHO HAD DICTATORIAL CONTROL. THE TITLE REFERS TO THE COMMANDER- IN-CHIEF IN WHOM ALL MILITARY POWER WAS CONCENTRATED & WHO GOVERNED IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR. SHOGUNS RULED FROM THE 12TH CENTURY UNTIL FEUDALISM WAS ABOLISHED. THE SHOGUNATE WAS TERMINATED WITH THE MEIJI RESTORATION OF 1868. RULING POWER WAS THEN RETURNED TO THE EMPEROR UNDER THE MEIJI CONSTITUTION OF 1889. MACARTHUR: THE DOMINANT AMERICAN FIGURE IN ASIA “GIVE ME 10,000 FILIPINO SOLDIERS AND I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD.” “I shall return!” THE PACIFIC WAR 1941-1945: “THE SOLDIER ABOVE ALL OTHERS PRAYS FOR PEACE, FOR IT IS THE SOLDIER WHO MUST SUFFER AND BEAR THE DEEPEST WOUNDS AND SCARS OF WAR”–DOUGLAS MACARTHUR “We’re the battling bastards of Bataan. No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces. No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces. And nobody gives a damn.” THE PHILIPPINES CAMPAIGNS OF 1942 & 1944 PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES: I HAVE RETURNED. BY THE GRACE OF ALMIGHTY GOD OUR FORCES STAND AGAIN ON PHILIPPINE SOIL—SOIL CONSECRATED IN THE BLOOD OF OUR TWO PEOPLES. WE HAVE COME DEDICATED AND COMMITTED TO THE TASK OF DESTROYING EVERY VESTIGE OF ENEMY CONTROL OVER YOUR DAILY LIVES, AND OF RESTORING UPON A FOUNDATION OF INDESTRUCTIBLE STRENGTH, THE LIBERTIES OF YOUR PEOPLE. ― DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, 1944 JEAN MARIE FAIRCLOTH MACARTHUR (1898 –2000) MARRIED GENERAL MACARTHUR IN 1937, THEIR SON ARTHUR WAS BORN IN 1938. THE MACARTHUR FAMILY REMAINED TOGETHER THROUGHOUT WORLD WAR II & THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN. THEY DID NOT RETURN TO THE US UNTIL 1951, SPENDING 14 YEARS IN ASIA. PRESIDENT REAGAN AWARDED HER THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM IN 1988 & THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT GAVE HER ITS LEGION OF MERIT IN 1993. VICTORY OVER JAPAN AUGUST 1945 IN WAR, YOU WIN OR LOSE, LIVE OR DIE - AND THE DIFFERENCE IS JUST AN EYELASH. ― DOUGLAS MACARTHUR TODAY THE GUNS ARE SILENT. A GREAT TRAGEDY HAS ENDED. A GREAT VICTORY HAS BEEN WON... A NEW ERA IS UPON US. EVEN THE LESSON OF VICTORY ITSELF BRINGS WITH IT PROFOUND CONCERN, BOTH FOR OUR FUTURE SECURITY AND THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION. THE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE WAR POTENTIAL, THROUGH PROGRESSIVE ADVANCES IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, HAS IN FACT NOW REACHED A POINT WHICH REVISES THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF WAR. THE PROBLEM BASICALLY IS THEOLOGICAL AND INVOLVES A SPIRITUAL RECRUDESCENCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN CHARACTER THAT WILL SYNCHRONIZE WITH OUR MATCHLESS ADVANCES IN SCIENCE, ART, LITERATURE AND ALL MATERIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS. IT MUST BE OF THE SPIRIT IF WE ARE TO SAVE THE FLESH. -DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, SEPTEMBER 2, 1945 WE STAND IN TOKYO TODAY REMINISCENT OF OUR COUNTRYMAN, COMMODORE PERRY, NINETY-TWO YEARS AGO. HIS PURPOSE WAS TO BRING TO JAPAN AN ERA OF ENLIGHTENMENT AND PROGRESS, BY LIFTING THE VEIL OF ISOLATION TO THE FRIENDSHIP, TRADE, AND COMMERCE OF THE WORLD. BUT ALAS THE KNOWLEDGE THEREBY GAINED OF WESTERN SCIENCE WAS FORGED INTO AN INSTRUMENT OF OPPRESSION AND HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, FREEDOM OF ACTION, EVEN FREEDOM OF THOUGHT WERE DENIED THROUGH APPEAL TO SUPERSTITION, AND THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF FORCE. TODAY, FREEDOM IS ON THE OFFENSIVE, DEMOCRACY IS ON THE MARCH. TODAY, IN ASIA AS WELL AS IN EUROPE, UNSHACKLED PEOPLES ARE TASTING THE FULL SWEETNESS OF LIBERTY, THE RELIEF FROM FEAR. -DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, SEPTEMBER 2, 1945 IT IS MY EARNEST HOPE AND INDEED THE HOPE OF ALL MANKIND THAT FROM THIS SOLEMN OCCASION A BETTER WORLD SHALL EMERGE OUT OF THE BLOOD AND CARNAGE OF THE PAST—A WORLD FOUNDED UPON FAITH AND UNDERSTANDING—A WORLD DEDICATED TO THE DIGNITY OF MAN AND THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS MOST CHERISHED WISH —FOR FREEDOM, TOLERANCE AND JUSTICE. ― DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, SEPTEMBER 2, 1945 I, A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER, HAD THE CIVIL RESPONSIBILITY AND ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER 80-MILLION PEOPLE, AND I WOULD MAINTAIN THAT CONTROL UNTIL JAPAN HAD ONCE MORE DEMONSTRATED THAT IT WAS READY, WILLING AND ABLE TO BECOME A RESPONSIBLE MEMBER OF THE FAMILY OF FREE NATIONS. NEVER IN HISTORY HAD A NATION AND ITS PEOPLE BEEN MORE COMPLETELY CRUSHED THAN WERE THE JAPANESE AT THE END OF THE WAR. MY PROFESSIONAL MILITARY KNOWLEDGE WAS NO LONGER A MAJOR FACTOR, I HAD TO BECOME AN ECONOMIST, A POLITICAL SCIENTIST, AN ENGINEER, A MANUFACTURING EXECUTIVE, A TEACHER, EVEN A THEOLOGIAN OF SORTS. I HAD TO REBUILD A NATION TOTALLY DESTROYED BY WAR. -DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, REMINISCENCES THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN AS SUPREME COMMANDER FOR THE ALLIED POWERS (SCAP) IN JAPAN, GENERAL MACARTHUR WOULD PROVE TO BE A BENIGN, PATERNALISTIC PRO-CONSUL WHOSE ADMINISTRATION WOULD PROVE CONCILIATORY & BROAD-MINDED. FOR THE JAPANESE, HE BECAME A CHRIST-LIKE FIGURE DEVOTED TO RESURRECTING A NEW JAPAN FROM THE ASHES. THE JAPAN MACARTHUR TOOK CHARGE OF WAS A NATION IN RUINS. THE WORLD REMEMBERS THE DESTRUCTION OF HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI, BUT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IN FACT HAD BEEN LEVELLED TO THE GROUND BY AMERICAN AIR POWER.
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