By Bob Barney: Here are two speeches, of many. Long, sometimes tedious, we have highlighted important aspects of his words, but please take the time to read and understand what this man had to say. His words were from God, he was a prophet, military genius and one of the greatest American of the 20th century. MacArthur also cautioned the young President Kennedy to avoid a U.S. military build-up in Vietnam, pointing out that domestic problems should be given a much greater priority. Kennedy was said to have come out of the more than three-hour meeting 'stunned' and 'enormously impressed'. Unfortunately, the President didn't listen to his warning and 59,000 Americans paid the price. MacArthur and his second wife, Jean Faircloth, spent the last years of their life together in the Penthouse of the Waldorff-Astoria.
After his death Jean continued to live in the Penthouse until her death. The couple are entombed together in downtown Norfolk, Virginia; their burial site is in the rotunda of a memorial building/museum (formerly the Norfolk city hall) dedicated to his memory, and there is a major shopping mall (MacArthur Center) named for him across the street from the memorial. According to the museum, General MacArthur chose to be buried in Norfolk because of his mother's ancestral ties to the city. Today, literally hundreds of millions of people owe their freedom, their way of life, and there prosperity to this great man.
Ironically most of these people do not know it, or even know his name today. He wrote the Constitution of Japan, which forbade that country to ever have a military again. Because of weak leadership from the United States, we are today witnessing Japan rearming themselves, something the General was worried about ever happening again.
Japan's wealth and security is because of this man alone! Many today deride the General, call him a demagogue. He was vain, arrogant and sometimes aloof, but what separates him from those monsters like Hitler who have some of those same attributes is his belief in the true God, and God's divine guidance over him and this nation. He knew it, and trusted it. Once when his staff were dodging bullets, scrambling for safety behind a jeep, they peered out to see MacArthur, standing tall and totally unafraid of the situation…. "Doesn't he think he can get killed? " a staffer asked the other.
The instant reply from his aide in horror, "Goddamn it, of course he does'nt!"
When his wife asked him (after failing to win the nomination for President) "What kind of President will Mr. Eisenhower make?" He replied… "I think a good one! He was the best orderly that ever worked for me!"
Today, his prophetic words are haunting now more than ever….
Listen to the general, in his own words. he wrote all of his speeches himself!