On General Douglas MacArthur's Presumed Arrogance

Even the most casual students of military history know that General Douglas MacArthur was fired for insubordination during the Korean War, and his reputation was well-established before that war. According to the new book Generals and Admirals, Criminals and Crooks: Dishonorable Leadership in the U.S. Military by Jeffrey J. Matthews: “At the time of MacArthur’s Korean appointment, some observers registered prescient misgivings. New York Times columnist James Reston worried about the risks of a broader war in Asia because of the general’s legendary hubris and penchant for autonomous action. Reston described MacArthur as ‘a sovereign power in his own right, with stubborn confidence in his own judgment’ and as a commander with an ‘old habit of doing things in his own way without too much concern about waiting for orders from Washington.’” (p. 94)

Brock was taken aback by this request and began to think General MacArthur was out of touch with reality. Here are his words: “I looked at him with astonishment as he continued to expound the most ridiculous drivel. Submarine operations in the Yellow Sea! Why the man must be mad! A glance at the charts of the west coast of Korea would disclose the shifting sandbanks, shoal waters, and fierce tidal currents would make submarine operations virtually impossible. This should have been clear – even to a soldier. Anyway, the North Koreans didn’t have any submarines – so what the hell was he talking about?” (pp. 212-213)

When Brock assured MacArthur that he was wrong about this, and that his plans were “dangerous,” the general became defensive and questioned Brock’s expertise as a naval officer. After a few moments, however, things calmed down, and MacArthur became more reasonable. Still, Brock remarked “I am pretty sure that it had been many a long year since anyone had dared to challenge the famous Douglas MacArthur to his face, and to our mutual surprise, we had both discovered, a moment before, that he liked it. In any event, the ensuing conversation revealed that General MacArthur did indeed know all about me and my past service.” (p. 213)  

This last point, that a man who many assumed to be an egomaniac, was actually OK with being corrected by competent authorities, might surprise some. He was a complex man, to be sure, and perhaps history has been a little unfair to him. Is it possible that General MacArthur was merely “testing” Brock to see if he knew what he was talking about? I think that is a reasonable question at this point, but that is a topic for a future article.

Yes, he deserved to be fired for insubordination to civilian authority, but Admiral Brock’s revelations help us uncover some crucial details about his character that some historians tend to overlook. Just as an aside, it turns out that my principal naval advisor in graduate school, the late Rear-Admiral Fred Crickard, knew Admiral Brock and once told me HE was quite arrogant himself! In the end though, I hope this short article will encourage others to look more closely at MacArthur and possibly discover that his reputation as a headstrong egoist may not, in fact, be entirely deserved.

Roger Thompson is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, a Research Fellow at Dalhousie University’s Centre for the Study of Security and Development, the author of Lessons Not Learned: The U.S. Navy’s Status Quo Culture, and a former researcher at Canada’s National Defence Headquarters.

Jeffrey J. Matthews. Generals and Admirals, Criminals and Crooks: Dishonorable Leadership in the U.S. Military. University of Notre Dame Press. Kindle Edition.

Jeffry V. Brock. The Dark Broad Seas: With Many Voices, Vol. I. (Toronto: McLelland and Stewart, 1981).