there were other shores, many of them wicked. sometimes the attack was in frail cracks, sitting ducks if surprise on the enemy had not been accomplished. on other beats, continuous tractors. in addition, combined operations of the three arms, the key to modern warfare. leaders and men shared the glow of victory. losses on the allied side were relatively small since damaging frontal assaults were avoided. the main body of the enemy was left to wither on the vine.

to the outside world, to many who saw the news reels, the progress being made by the general was admired an applauded. but to those who understood macarthur, they saw his determination to return to the philippines, this to him was a moral obligation. these islands, a second home, the place where he left his comrades, was the springboard of victory over japan. invasions in the southwest pacific continue. to the commander, these hard fought steps zigzagging along the coast were just the beginning. finally having gained the northwest part of the islands, there was no question in his

mind as to the next objective. what the president, the commander in chief, was not so sure in a meeting in hawaii in 1944, where shall we go, douglas, to russia or the philippines? one less tangible reason for going into the philippines, said macarthur, on moral grounds, we have to support the filipinos, our allies and friends, the decision was made. lady gulf. 41 years before, lieutenant m macarthur had made a survey of this area.

its potential and the needs in case of war. now off of the star board was lady again. once more, the enemy had not been ready for an attack. the commander watched with with the help guerrilla intelligence and sabotage, americans held the beach head, encircling and surprising the enemy. now on the beaches of lady, a

seemingly limitless supply of men and equipment, the result of carefully laid plans. directing the attack, the general seemed to be everywhere at once. every day at some point in the front lines, his men would spot the familiar faded field marshall's cap, and the odd sized corn cob pipe. the landings of lady and the gulf finally brought troops on the final difficult leg of the journey, on the road to manilla, where the going became more difficult, as the enemy threw in huge numbers of re-enforcements in an all out effort to halt the steady events. there was no timetable now in macarthur's mind, only that he should get there without delay, to free prisoners of the japanese guards.

in manilla, the fighting was block by block, troops found what the leader had told them to expect. the enemy had dug in for a long siege. to the general, this was the climax of the mission to which he was so deeply dedicated. and now, the door. the stronghold which earlier in the war had been so effective a fortress of with standing an attack was now his.

finally while civilians celebrated joyfully and forces fought bitterly on the other, macarthur entered manilla. he had kept the soldiers' faith. probably his greatest reward was the visit to prison camps. the series of daring surprise raids have rescued every prisoner held by the japanese. i'm a little late, he said, but we finally came. once more the philippines were under an american flag. then suddenly and swiftly, the war against japan was brought to a close. the principal architect of the

pacific victory, coordinated by the greatest general of the war, macarthur was the natural choice as supreme commander to enforce the surrender terms. aboard the battleship missouri, a celebration was to take place, one which reflected the understanding the solder, to honor a great soldier. >> it is my earnest hope that 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. let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that god will preserve it always. these proceedings are closed. >> now began one of the strangest occupations of any land by any conquerer. an idealist with firm convictions on the way democracy can be presented to eastern people, macarthur determined to guide the japanese through a complete social revolution. while the emperor with his deep hold upon the people was retained, almost every other institution became affected by what was entirely new to the

japanese, western democracy. the ideas caught on under the sure leadership of macarthur. this was the enactment of a constitution and universal suffrage. the national diet, highest organ of state power, became responsible to the people. monopolies were broken up, land reform was instituted which transformed tenants into owners. the rural capitalists became a strong bulwark against communism. in japan the social reforms by macarthur proved one of the most successful experiments in history. an implacable enemy became a friend.

during the occupation, the people took him to their hearts and his family as well, his wife, she who had been beside her husband and their young son, arthur. the work of reform was going ahead when suddenly -- a huge military force swept down from north korea across the 38th parallel. handfuls of americans serving as occupation troops in japan were flown into south korea in a rapid show of strength aimed at showing greater resources than actually were at hand. the strategy worked. the north koreans ran in to resistance, bogged down waiting

for more troops and artillery, while reinforcements poured into south korea to turn the tide of battle. during the ensuing months, general macarthur guided the war as commander in chief of united nations forces in korea. again, he studied the fighting at close range, a man in his 70s visiting battlefields as dauntlessly as he had many years before when a young officer in france. then came the daring amphibious attack, behind the enemy's lines on a shore that others had declared too risky, the landing was a complete surprise and success. the north korean army was tee moralized. the victory has become recognized as a masterpiece of strategy. so it will return to its rightful inhabitants. there had been a long line of cities and towns returned under macarthur's leadership. it was at this time that president truman cited macarthur for his vision, his judgment,

his will, his unshakeable faith. the korean war continued northward. the orders were the destruction of the north korean armed forces. and then the chinese communists entered the conflict, posing new questions in washington not only military but political. while carrying out what he considered to be his duty as supreme commander, the pursuit of victory on the battlefield, general macarthur came into conflict with those he served. his long and distinguished military career was suddenly brought to a close in an official order from the president, commander in chief of the military forces of the united states. he was homeward bound for the first time in 14 years.

the san francisco reception was the largest, the most vociferous history had ever known. the hero was home from the wars at last, and deserving the deepest respect and gratitude of the people he had served. in the midst of the ovation, the husband graciously acknowledged that he had not stood alone. >> this is not only my beloved wife, but my best soldier. >> in the nation's capital, greater than all the medals and honors of his career, was his final tremendous tribute. and then general macarthur stepped down, from the great panorama of history for which he had figured so brilliantly, but a soldier's words spoken from a soldier's heart. >> the world has turned over many times since i took the oath on the plane at west point, and the hopes and dreams have long

since vanished. but i still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day, which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die,

they just fade away. and like the old soldier of that ballad, i now close my military career and just fade away. an old soldier who tried to do his duty as god gave him the light to see that duty. good-bye. >> the name of general douglas macarthur cannot fade away. it shines forth brilliantly on some of the most glorious pages of our history. now thisis sergeant stuart queen inviting you to be with us again for another look at the big picture. >> "the big picture" is an official report for the armed forces and the american people, produced by the army pictorial center. presented by the department of the army in cooperation with >> still ahead, more american

history tv. in a few moments. a lecture on robert e lee and then ulysses s. grant. >> april 15, 1912, nearly 1500 perished on the ship called unsinkable. >> once the lookout bells were sounded and they sighted an iceberg ahead, rings it three times, ding ding ding, which is a warning saying there is some object ahead. it doesn't mean dead ahead and it doesn't say what kind of an object.

to tem them what it is that they saw. when they finally answered, the entire conversation was what do you see? and the response was iceberg right ahead and the response from the officer was thank you. >> on the truths and myths of that night. sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern. part of american history tv. >> wayne shaw looks at the generalship of robert e. lee. it's 50 minutes. 50. >> as you know the topic of the class is robert e. lee. not just to talk about his life and career but to assess his command. so, the first thing obviously when you need to do something like this and we will do this

with grant on friday. the reason i have the class structured this way is because as we will probably talk about later in this class, if you criticize or defend lee, a lot of times it ends up being in comparison to grant. you probably noticed that in the wide reading. but before we get to grant, let me start with lee. if we're going to assess the commander's abilities, the question then becomes what's the criteria one uses for that. now, does anyone in your readings think that lee has no merits as a general whatsoever? does anybody say lee is terrible to everything? that is a rhetorical question.

russel, criticizes lee. all right? but even he says what good things about lee? what do you mean by that? >> very aggressive. typical west pointish general? >> okay. so, everyone agrees what are some examples of that being a good thing?

>> that would be the seven days. the example. what else? we talk about strategies, operations, catholics. so everyone at the operational level usually acknowledges -- very rarely will any historians say lee is not a good campaign general.

there you look at his record. all right. he does the same thing to hooker. at the seven days, the federals are how close are they to richmond? close enough to hear the church bells. they are literally on the outskirts of richmond. lee turns the tide. and he wins those very large and important vickrys. now, why is lee also criticized for his aggressiveness.

yes, okay. >> wasn't really a type of war that he could afford to fight. >> exactly. you want to get in there? >> no, sir. >> all right. >> he has the theory that should have fought a grill la war campaign. >> there are a lot of arguments. it's not just gorilla operations.

does washington act like lee? what is one crucial priority? to maintain the army, okay. to keep the army in tact. so, that's washington's strategy. how does that then affect his stance? what does washington do then as? >> lee should have preserved his army. he knew he could win whatever battles he fought, so he just kept on fighting. >> exactly. you see the different, i had you guys read the wigly on monday. who does do a fabbian strategy? johnson chlt during what campaign? atlanta. okay.

all right. all right. who criticizes him? >> confederates. the people -- >> yes, and do you remember who makes that argument? it's sort of in rebuttal, this idea. let me step back. johnston, sherman is marching on johnson in 1864. sherman is trying to take atlanta and johnston essentially delays action, but even widely acknowledges that what in the end, even if you accept wigely, if we assume, yes, johnston did fight a masterful fabian campaign, what happens to atlanta at the end of the day? it falls. and why does wigely say it falls? it's not because of his lack of skill. >> west -- >> that's the larger strategic problem, right, and for that

reason, by the time the effective strategy is chosen, johnston doesn't have, if you're trading space, if you're trading space for time, johnston doesn't have enough space to trade at that point.

it's too late in the war to do that effectively. so what should have happened then? and this is called a counterfactual, right. all right, the more -- it's the what if. all right. and if it's tightly related to the issue of lee. because if you say lee's strategy is wrong, you must then give an alternative. and the alternative should give you a higher likelihood of success, all right, and you need to give a plausible. have you heard of a novel," guns of the south"? yes, what happens in "guns of the south"? okay. what's crazy thing happens in it. yes, south africans invent a time machine and they you know, they see the civil war as a big headache for them because this is when apartheid still exists and what better way than giving the army of virginia ak 47s? guess who wins the war? the confederacy wins the war and it's kind of a silly book. i read pieces of it just for grins. i hope he isn't watching. he might be insulted. on the front, it's got sort of a cross, so sh obviously, that kind of counterfactual is space aliens invade, those are off the table. what possible counterfactuals are something like taking actual things used during the war. in this case, the counterfactual is johnston during the atlanta campaign. and saying this is what robert

e. lee should have done or the confederacy as a whole should have done or or washington. during the revolution. because you see here, at least similar circumstances. what are the similar circumstances between the american revolution and the confederacy? >> there's smaller army. however like if the confederates looked to the american revolution, they would be able to realize that the smaller forces could still gain independantsy, still be able to gain independentsy. with the smaller force, it's possible. >> you have to husband your

forces in the correct manner. you have to, you can't, does watching go around willy-nilly attacking. mr. conner. >> the goal is not to defeat your enemies, just to exhaust them. to ruin public opinion and for that, you don't necessarily need to completely trust your armed forces. you just need to frustrate them, which is what washington did. washington never really focused on one strong point, he took out you know, detachments. >> yeah. >> he won moral victories, which is probably what lee should have done is you know, picked small points as opposed to focusing on the large army where you risk your army in change. >> okay. now, here's a question. in defense of lee, does lee

actually disagree except for the mean? with the ends? no. but what's lee's argument? >> he thinks the battle is going to get the great northern wall. it's against southern culture to do what all the historians say he should are done. they would never, they want the classic conventional battles. >> who makes that argument? that's gallagher. >> in defense of a conventional battle, also vying for recognition by great britain and france and probably wouldn't have happened if they adopted a guerrilla strategy, which some people have advocated. >> but washington's, you know, a southerner and he managed to pull this off. you don't, it's not just constant avoidance of battle. it's with small victories that you can hold up and make big victories. suppress war. >> and that's a fair point and