Of exhibits on his life and times and we have an exhibit to your left on the liberation of the philippines. I encourage you to explore and take time during the breaks. It will be opened until 5 00 today. This symposium is Great Partnership between the city of norfolk who provides key support to the macarthur memorial and their programs. I know we have several Board Members here and id like to recognize them for their support. I would like to recognize my staff who are here today and, quite frankly, helped make this happen. I may be the guy up here giving the welcoming remarks but without their hard work and dedication, we wouldnt be here today and we wouldnt be having the program were going to have, amanda, robert, please give them a round of applause. [ applause ] at this time, im going to bring jim forward who will emcee us for the rest of the day. Again, welcome and lets have a great day. All right. Welcome, yall. Glad you all could make it. This is our 15th symposium. We started in about 75 when we started putting on the occupation to japan symposium and over the last 50 years weve put together about 15 of them and all of them have turned out really great because we bring people that intend to use the archives and thats the thing about macarthur when he set this place up, he wanted it to be a free and open access to all of the materials he had. As well, he wanted the memorial to be a place for free and open discussion and debate about things that were as well as putting a no price tag entry which is probably one of the only places anywhere you dont have to pay to get into it. Thanks for all coming. World war ii veterans . Most definitely. Benito, flew in from the philippines the other night. He grew up in occupied philippines. [ applause ] j. J. Hanson holmes, she grew up in the jungles of mindinau. Chris grew up in manila as well. Weve got a lot of great [ applause ] and they are really what makes this place so special because they keep coming back all the time. We have somebody new. Gwen, are you here . She was from los banos. She was in an internment camp and then down at los banos. If i didnt call you out, its because i dont know you yet. But i will soon. We have three great authors here and then well talk about a book and then be showing bonnies film later on with the help of philippine veterans bank, which is really the mainstay behind the support that our philippine delegation gets. Its a great day, long day, im glad were inside. Its going to be 100 degrees outside. Lets get it kicked off. Our three authors who came all the way from colorado as well as wisconsin and new jersey, all to be here, the one thing they have in common is they did research here at the macarthur memorial for these three books. Were very pleased to have them. They all have different styles. All three books are great, read them all. Had to. Because i had to be up here on the stage. First off, well have Walter Borneman. Walter made quite a nuisance of himself over the last couple of years being here nonstop, get me this. No, he wasnt like that at all. Very nice guy. Very glad to have him. Professional writer. This is his book, macarthur at war. Theres been a lot of books done on macarthur. It took ten pages just to get to one point. Manchester did a very famous book. Used to take him ten pages and he never really got to the point. Walter has a way of synthesizing ideas and really getting to the essence of certain issues in just a few paragraphs. Thats the strong point that i think of walters book. And so we will bring him up right now. So Walter Borneman from colorado, welcome to the macarthur memorial. [ applause ] good morning. It is indeed a privilege to be here. I was going to say some nice things about jim, and i think i still will after that introduction. Im delighted to be back here. I really am. I would not have been able to do this book without the Research Facilities of this particular institution and i thank it as an institution and i certainly thank jim zoble as an individual personally for all of the help and i was going to allude, jim, to the fact that maybe there were a few too many emails over the course of three or four years but you offered gracious assistance always and i greatly appreciate it. Well, macarthur at war, world war ii in the pacific, is indeed just that. I really wanted to focus on macarthurs evolution as a military commander during that fouryear period of time. Now, i think it goes without saying that the obvious is that there is no middle ground with Douglas Macarthur. There are people who revered him, there are people who despise him and i think that was probably true even during his life time. Its been amazing to me, this book has been out ten weeks and its been amazing to me to travel around the country and see how much polarization there still is 75 years after macarthur in world war ii, 50 years after the mans death, theres still a tremendous amount of polarization, either those people who are sure he was the greatest general of all time or those people who for almost knit picky reasons all the way down think that he was absolutely a terrible person and made no contributions. So having said that theres no middle ground with Douglas Macarthur, it might seem as a Mission Impossible for me to do what i tried to do, which was really talk about a very balanced and analytical approach to both the many, many good things that i think he did particularly this evolution during the fouryear period of time as a military commander and to talk about that as well as some of his more ex as sper rating qualities. And those of you who know macarthur know that there are no shortage of those kinds of qualities. The adjectives used to describe him were never bland, whether they were superlatives or disdain. And thanks in large part to the Research Facility here, the ability to think things through, talk to scholars in the field and kind of get to the bottom of who macarthur was, and let me just mention briefly, two things that are themes and then i really want to spend some time on this evolution as a military commander thing. One of the themes thats in the book that i really found fascinating is how does a man go from someone who is relatively well known but certainly not known across the country on december 7th of 1941 and then within six months hes this absolute Great American hero, a rallying cry for everything thats happening in the United States and the entire allied world at that period of time. Well, i think there are a number of answers to that. One is certainly his ability to, in many respects, manage his own press. I think that theres also the situation you have that hes the only one during the First Six Months of 1942 whos really actively engaged with the army. Now, the navys out there doing some things but ernest j. King is not one to publicize things. Macarthur, on the other hand, has press releases and the American Public really had their eyes on the philippines and i think that a final component of maybe how he makes this transformation to Great American hero is that america during these tenuous six months of 1942 really desperately need a hero. And, you know, this is absolutely the perfect setup. Americans wake up on december 8th of 1941, they have heard the news of pearl harbor, they are reeling from that. What is the first thing that happens in their mail on monday morning, december 8th . Douglas macarthur, by some just happenstance of fate, ends up on their doorstep on the cover of life magazine, a very auditory article by claire booth loose and really sets macarthur up as this hero in the far east. Again, the timing, just by coincidence, couldnt have been more amazing. But thats actually what happened on december 8th. The other theme that i try to get into in the book is explore this whole issue of army navy controversy, rivalry. Okay . And it certainly exists because there are people on macarthurs staff who are really just antinavy. We were talking last evening that sometimes i think that books come out and i can think of a number in the recent past that are really focused just on the controversy and trying to really build it up. If you read some of these things, you wonder at the end of the day, wait a minute, how did we ever win . How did these guys get together and really make things happen . And i would suggest to you that the truth of the matter is that macarthur actually worked pretty well. Now, early on, you know, hes got his issues with tommy hart in the asiatic fleet in the fall of 1941 but i think he comes to work very well in what were going to talk about at some length in terms of combined operations. I think he really does a great job of working with the navy. Let me just throw out one thing as kind of an aside and give some of you historians in the room to think about. Ernest j. King, chief of naval operations, imagine what would have happened if somebody else had been in that naval position and hadnt said, as king did, we are going to fight a two ocean war. Because king said that, theres a tremendous amount of supplies and material that flow into the pacific. Now, macarthur would not have said that king was one of his strongest supporters oral lies but let me suggest to you that by promoting a two ocean global war and pouring resources into the pacific like king and the joint chiefs did that macarthur is really a beneficiary of that kind of strategy. All right. So lets talk at some length about this evolution as a military commander. And just in case theres some people new to macarthur, heres the 60second bio to get us to december 7th of 1941. Hes definitely a 19th century man. I think that you you need to re that when you start with Douglas Macarthur. Hes someone whos born in 1880. His father wins the medal of honor for a charge up Missionary Ridge in the civil war. Macarthur goes on to west point, graduates first, of course, in the class of 1903, does two tours in the philippines. He ends up in the trenches of world war i. Hes chief of staff and Brigade Commander in the famed rainbow division. After the war hes superintendent at west point. And, hey, heres an interesting fact. Did you know, since were about to focus on the olympics in brazil, hes the head of the american delegation to the 1928 olympics in amsterdam, and in very, very typical macarthur fashion, he tells the American Team in amsterdam, americans did not come here to lose. And america got the first place in terms of gold medals at the 1928 games. So, some people dont know that about macarthur, his involvement with that. Athletics were always very important to the general. Well, by 1930, hes chief of staff for Herbert Hoover and he stays on in that position for Franklin Roosevelt. 1935 hes done as being chief of staff, goes to the philippines as military adviser. 1937 hes faced with a choice of being recalled in the United States. Whats he going to do . I mean, hes still relatively young. He doesnt want to go back to being a corps commander. Hes done that. He resigns from the army, stays on in the philippines as field marshal of the philippine army. And as chris mentioned, hes basically recalled to active duty 75 years ago this month in the philippines to become commander of u. S. Forces in the far east. So, december 7th its december 8th in manila time 1941. Macarthurs awoken in the morning by news of pearl harbor. And i think its fair to say, when you look at him as a military commander that he is simply overwhelmed, as are most commanders on the american side, by the speed and the complexity with which the japanese bring the attack against the philippines, and quite frankly, across all of the pacific. Its not surprising that when we look at and im going to give you just three examples of what i think are perhaps his biggest defeats and then three examples of his biggest victories. Its no surprise that when we look at that list of big defeats that we start with clark field on december 8th of 1941. Now you know, again, im fond of saying that sometimes historys shorthand doesnt get it right. Ive gone around the last ten weeks and talked to people, and the critics of macarthur are always ready immediately to say, oh, yeah, macarthur, he got caught with his planes on the ground at clark field. Well, yes, but those of you who know the story, its far more complex than that in terms of what happens. Operationally, the American Forces at clark field really account for themselves pretty well. They get the bombers and the fighters in the air. And of course, the mistake they make is that when the second wave, the continuing wave of the japanese attack is happening, theyve landed and theyve gone to lunch, so that definitely is a problem. But again, the shorthand of macarthur got caught with his planes on the ground, not quite true. Its a much more complicated story than that. Second, of course, is baton. The retreat to the peninsula, american and filipino forces. And macarthurs strategy has been, despite long years of whats called plan orange, the defense of just the area around manila, macarthurs strategy in the fall of 1941 involves that hes going to be able to defend the entire archipelago, okay . So, he spreads out men and supplies all over the islands. And of course, the speed with which the japanese attack really overwhelmed that. And by controlling the air, they really prohibit any kind of movement of supplies or things to baton. And i think what happens in terms of that is that macarthur, again, is just almost blindsided by the speed with which the japanese attack. And let me suggest to you that one thing about macarthur is that he always worked on his own time, and he expected a japanese attack at some point, but he thought it was going to come in the spring of 1942. And when it comes in december in such a fury of land, air and sea attack, again, i suggest that hes simply overwhelmed. The third topic or defeat in terms of macarthurs portfolio that id suggest to you and jim duffy may talk a little bit more about this in terms of the new Guinea Campaign i think there needs to be a little scrutiny about whether or not he could have moved more quickly to reinforce boona and basically prevent the entire new Guinea Campaign back and forth across the crocoda trail. To macarthurs credit, he does that in terms of defending milne bay and being ready to repulse the Japanese Invasion there but its an interesting period of time in july of 1942 that, again, theres a lot going on. And he doesnt have much resources. But its still a situation where if he had been able to do that and able to really focus on the big picture of new guinea, he might have been able to start from boona, rather than starting from port mosby and fastforward the war six months. So, for my take, at least, theres three macarthur defeats that by no small coincidence come very early in the war. Now, the three great victories that i suggest to you are this invasion in march, late february, early march of 1944. Its ahead of schedule. Its a surprise. It completes the encirclement of erbal, and i think more importantly, it shows this thing combined operations. Today we take air, land and sea acting together for granted, okay . In 1941 and early 1942, particularly with macarthur, this 19thcentury man, hes just not ready yet. Hes got to be educated a little bit. Hes got to evolve as a commander. And i think, again, much to his credit, he does. He embraces combined operations in all of those areas. And i just go on quickly to say that the other two victories from 44 that i would suggest are on the great list are certainly his leap across the north coast of new guinea to ha landa and of course, his invasion and return to the philippines. In all of those operations and those three great victories, combined operations is front and center. You know, were going to talk a little bit, too, about macarthur myths. And i think theres this myth that he was this great lone wolf, you know, the solitary strategist sitting there brooding. Well, you know, that made good press copy. And the photographs of him there puffing on a corn cob pipe and reflecting. I mean, as i write in the book, no ones quite sure what he was thinking. Maybe hes thinking about strategy and the next days operations. Maybe hes reminiscing about his fathers charge of Missionary Ridge. Nonetheless, i suggest to you that when you peel back that myth of lone wolf, it is very much to macarthurs credit that he has been able to put together a highly Effective Team that knows combined operations, knows their piece of that operations, and works together as a team. And we know the names. Well just go through them briefly. Its Bob Eichelberger and Walter Krueger on land. Its tom kincaid and dan barbie with naval and amphibious operations. Take barbie just as one example. Dan barbie, his name was uncle dan the amphibious man. And he goes to work for macarthur. And the first couple assaults that he leads, my goodness, you know, theres a dozen Landing Craft and a couple of destroyers in 1943 off the coast of new guinea. Contrast that two years later with 600 ships sitting out there in latoo gulf. Its amazing transition and implementation of Americas Industrial might and strength in only a short, twoyear period of time, and its a testament to macarthurs commanders. And macarthur himself, who selected these commanders, that we have a situation where theyre really able to bring to bear and manage that kind of increase in forces and again bring to bear combined operations. And of course, you know, perhaps most important of all is George Kenney and his use of air power. We certainly have a situation with the battle of the bismarck sea, march of 1943. And even prior to that, i think theres macarthur saying, oh, yeah, you know, as chief of staff, i didnt really think too much in the 30s about air power. You know, hes on record as saying, well, i dont know if the army really needs bombers. Then the navy got bombers, so he needed some bombers, too. But you know, its a situation that by watching what kenney does at the battle of t