Douglas MacArthur

A military brat, Douglas MacArthur was born 26 January 1880, at Little Rock Barracks in Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur Jr., a U.S. Army captain, and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur (nicknamed "Pinky"). Arthur Jr. received the Medal of Honor for his actions with the Union Army in the Battle of Missionary Ridge during the American Civil War, and was promoted to lieutenant general. Arthur and Pinky had three sons, of whom Douglas was the youngest, following Arthur III and Malcolm. The family lived on a succession of Army posts in the American Old West. Conditions were primitive, and Malcolm died of measles in 1883. In his memoir, MacArthur wrote "I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed, almost before I could walk and talk." Douglas was extremely close with his mother and often considered a "mama's boy". Until around age eight, she dressed him in skirts and kept his hair long and in curls.

In July 1889 the family moved to Washington, D.C., where MacArthur attended the Force Public School. His father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in September 1893. MacArthur attended the West Texas Military Academy, where he was awarded the gold medal for "scholarship and deportment". He played on the school tennis team, quarterback on its football team, and shortstop on its baseball team. He was named valedictorian, with a final year average of 97.33%. MacArthur's father and grandfather unsuccessfully sought to secure Douglas a presidential appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, first from Grover Cleveland and then from William McKinley; both were rejected. He later passed the examination for an appointment from Congressman Theobald Otjen. He later wrote: "It was a lesson I never forgot. Preparedness is the key to success and victory."

MacArthur entered West Point on 13 June 1899, and his mother moved to a suite at Craney's Hotel, which overlooked the grounds of the academy. Hazing was widespread at West Point at this time, and MacArthur and his classmate Ulysses S. Grant III were singled out by Southern cadets as sons of generals with mothers living at Craney's. When Cadet Oscar Booz left West Point after being hazed and subsequently died of tuberculosis, MacArthur was called to appear before a special congressional inquiry, where he testified against cadets implicated in hazing but downplayed his own hazing. Congress subsequently outlawed acts "of a harassing, tyrannical, abusive, shameful, insulting or humiliating nature", although hazing continued.

MacArthur was a corporal in Company B in his second year, a first sergeant in Company A in his third year and First Captain in his final year. He played for the baseball team and academically earned 2424.12 merits out of a possible 2470.00 or 98.14%, the third-highest score ever recorded. He graduated first in his class on 11 June 1903. At the time it was customary for the top-ranking cadets to be commissioned into the United States Army Corps of Engineers, therefore, MacArthur was commissioned as a second lieutenant in that corps.

War crimes trials

MacArthur was responsible for confirming and enforcing the sentences for war crimes handed down by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. In late 1945, Allied military commissions in Asia tried 5,700 Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans for war crimes that included the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre. About 4,300 were convicted, almost 1,000 sentenced to death, and hundreds given life imprisonment.

MacArthur recommended that Shirō Ishii and other members of Unit 731 be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. Since retaining the emperor was crucial to ensuring control over the population, the Allied forces shielded him from war responsibility. MacArthur also exempted all members of the imperial family.