c-span, where history and old daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. two-week, american artifacts -- eat week, american artifacts takes you -- douglas macarthur commanded allied forces in the pacific during world war ii. at the macarthur memorial in norfolk, virginia, about his role during the war, the occupation of japan, the korean war, and his life after the military. this is the second of a two-part

program. hello, andkowski: welcome. my name is christopher kolakowski. it is my honor to be the director here. we are a museum, and research center, dedicated to the life and times of general douglas macarthur. we will look at some of the treasures in our collection from world war ii, the occupation of japan to the end of his life. with that, let us take a look at our first item. douglas macarthur in 1935 was offered the job of military advisor of the commonwealth of the philippines. they were on their way for independence in july of 1946 and they needed a military advisor to create the philippine military. douglas macarthur at this point brings a very impressive resume to that task. he is the most highly decorated american officer in the first world war. had event superintendent as west

point and one of the outstanding graduates from there. was known in the philippines and had served there many times. he had a lot of friends , including friends in the current philippine government. he had been chief of staff from 1930 until 1935 and after that, accepted the post of military advisor. he moved out there taking his ailing mother with him and they booked passage on the liner "hoover." macarthur, being a major general in the army, having reverted to that rank, was seated at the captain's table. very prominent soldier. that is what this program here is from. from october 1935 on their way across the pacific. while there, he meets a vivacious tennessee woman. jean faircloth. jean is on the first leg of an asian tour with friends.

but on her way over and we have , the correspondence in our archives on the way over she , strikes up conversations with general, and they become fascinated with each other. douglas macarthur is torn between this vivacious woman that he loves to talk to and spend time with and his ailing mother who is clearly close to death. he says mom, what should i do ? and she says, i will be fine. they get to manila, and jean cancels the rest of her trip. in the spring of 1937, she becomes the second mrs. douglas macarthur. they come back to the u.s. for some time in the spring of 1937. by this douglas' mother had point, died. she is buried in the arlington cemetery next to her husband. while there, on the last day of

april, in new york city, they get married. they returned to the philippines. and as far as he is concerned, he is not going back to the u.s. manila is home. he has a penthouse there. he is working for his good friends. working for the president of the philippine government, quezon. in february 1938, the couple has a child. arthur macarthur, the fifth. born february 20th, 1938. his godparents are the president of the philippines and his wife. if you think about that in the late 1930's, to have ethnic godparents for an american child was quite a statement about where arthur is on racial issues. macarthur moves everything to manila. library, father's library, father's uniforms and medals. everything. he is not going back but the state intervenes. the japanese are activating and

becoming more expansionist. with the fall of france in 1940, there is some weakness among the colonial powers. japan decides to start. -- japan decides to strike. and so begins to move south against the dutch east indies, today's indonesia and against the french colonies into china. because of this concern, in july of 1941, 75 years ago this july, general macarthur is recalled and named commander in chief of the forces in the far east. charged with defending the philippine islands. receives massive reinforcements. this is not complete when the japanese attack pearl harbor and attack the philippines december 7 and 8 of 1941. honolulu, 7:55 in the morning when the japanese strike pearl

, harbor, because of the time difference, 3:00 a.m. in manila. macarthur loses most of his air force to a japanese bombing raid on the first day of the war. the japanese invade a few weeks later and macarthur tries to , fight them on the beaches. his men are unable to hold. macarthur realizes he needs to abandon manila and fall back to , the bataan peninsula. he sends word to the manila hotel, to his wife and son, and on four hours notice on christmas eve 1941, jean macarthur packs two suitcases, packs her son, her son takes a tricycle and a stuffed animal, and they prepare to leave. why do i tell you that story? it is why we have these two objects right here. the field medals, and the field marshal baton. macarthur is the only american officer to hold a rank as field

marshal. he was field marshal of the philippine army. he was given that a rank to enhance his status as military advisor and remains the only field marshal the philippine army has ever had. this is his field marshal baton. it is one-of-a-kind. no other one like it in the world. it bears the seal of the american eagle. as mrs. macarthur is walking out of the penthouse, she stops and sees these in the glass case and realizes she doesn't want to leave these for the japanese. she quickly takes them, puts them in a manila hotel towel and , throws them into her suitcase and leaves. a couple of months later, the macarthurs pack up their will and their birth certificates and personal papers and cash -- they are sent out via submarine. it includes these items. that is how we have them today. in 1945, the japanese captured

the penthouse, inventoried the contents and in 1945, the manila , hotel was a strong point. in the fighting, it was completely destroyed. macarthurs lost virtually everything. if it was not saved in 1941, chances are it was completely lost. and so that creates holes in our , ability to interpret his life before because of the loss of personal correspondence and artifacts and the story. macarthur's father's medal of honor that he earned under fire was gone. his library, mostly gone. it is a real tragedy and a high personal price to pay among the senior leaders in the united states army in world war ii and something not a lot of people know about, the destruction of the manila hotel and macarthur apartment but that is why we , have these items here.

christmas eve to new year's eve is when the military retreats. this is the only place they stopped the japanese advance southward. the french and dutch are not able to hold. elsewhere, they are not able to hold for very long, except on bataan. the problem is they are becoming increasingly isolated. macarthur and his wife are absolutely convinced that they are going to die in the philippines. they have seen the rising sun rise over the manila hotel. as far as they are concerned, this is it. when they send out that trunk by a submarine, they are basically making their will. douglas macarthur is not only the senior american officer in the far east, and in the philippines, and the physical embodiment of the united states in many ways to the average filipino, he is also husband and

father because his wife and son who turns four during the bombing are with him as well. , not only does he have the pressure of command, but he has to be a father and a husband as well and to be strong for his , family because they are taking his cue. there are a couple of objects here that illustrate some of the themes that i talked about. illustrates some of the things i talked about. first, this small khaki cap. which was given to arthur macarthur on his fourth birthday. it was handmade by one of the tailors on corregidor. they also gave a little cigarette holder. arthur macarthur loved wearing his hat and walking around smoking his invisible cigarette using his holder. one of the sergeants saw him a wearing this and called him general and arthur macarthur indignantly stopped him and said -- i am not a general. i am a sergeant. why is that?

because sergeants drive cars. such is the view of a four-year-old. the other item in here of interest -- most people gloss over it but it speaks a great , deal about how macarthur was philippines -- the signet ring on display in this case as well. president quezon is evacuated. macarthur accompanies him to the dock where they take a boat out to a submarine. he is dying of tuberculosis and will die in exile. both men think they will never see each other again. zon takes this off and puts it on his finger and says-- when they find your body, i want them to know that you fought for my country. they part.

this is a small object. but it carries a great weight of emotion for the men that share it in february of 1942. a couple of days later, macarthur is granted a reprieve because franklin roosevelt, the u.s. president, under pressure from both his allies including a request from the australian government for a senior american general to take command, pressure from the u.s., from the press and political opponents, realizes he cannot leave macarthur to the japanese. he orders general macarthur to leave the philippines and macarthur who tries to duck this , because he does not want to leave, doesn't want to leave his men and his home, he tries to duck it but his staff talked him , out of resigning. man that cannly lead a relief expedition. so macarthur accepts the order. on march 11, 1942, he, his family, and 19 other officers,

commanders, staff officers primarily depart on four pt , boats. and john bulkeley is on board. they go 560 miles through japanese territory, the japanese waters through the philippines , from the northern part of the philippines down to the southern philippine islands where they meet up with some b-17's and they fly to australia. it 1500 miles through japanese airspace. a most completely the entire way. they make it without loss. not a lot of evidence that the japanese knew they were flying at that particular time, but they made it. and macarthur later said the escape of a commander in chief and his party through a situation like this is unique in the annals of american history. frankly, i agree. it is one of the great adventure stories in the history of the united states military. macarthur gets to australia.

he issues a statement, which has made him -- it was one of the more famous ones he made. the president of the united states ordered me to break through the japanese lines for the purpose of organizing the american offensive against japan. primary object of which is the relief of the philippines. i came through. and i shall return. that promise, to go back and liberate the philippines, would drive much of the war in the pacific. the war in the pacific, particularly in the southwest pacific was unusual. unlike just about any other conflict the u.s. had fought in before for two main reasons. first, the geography of the area -- the vast space of it but particularly the island of new guinea. not only is it the second largest island in the world, but it is one of the least developed. there is not the infrastructure like there is in europe where you can find ports and roads and

things like that accessible , terrain to be able to operate. in new guinea, whatever you need to fight, you will probably have to take with you. the land does not provide it. and so, that creates an engineering and supply problem that is unlike just about anything we've seen before. that is the first part. the second part is that for general macarthur to get where he needs to go, from eastern new guinea back to the philippines, he needs help. it cannot just be the army. it has to be the army, navy, and the air corps, now the air force, working together. no one service can win the war in the pacific. one service can lose it. that is one of the things that this panel really shows us and develops these themes. the first is the airpower piece. that is why we have the air force patch. macarthur's air force, the fifth air force in particular, develops a great reputation for being able to support ground

operation, but also to be a great menace to japanese shipping. one example -- the battle of the bismarck in 1943. japanese reinforcement convoys coming from new britain to new guinea across the straits were almost completely washed out by the fifth air force. and the japanese lost almost all the troops on the convoy, including having disruption of their division headquarters. the general did get on shore. it was disorganized. christ frankly, -- quite frankly what men did get ashore though , were of limited value for a while to the japanese commander. that is the effect of airpower. macarthur never jumped very far beyond his air umbrella. in fact, if he had to, he always stayed within the umbrella because he knew how important it of his airpower because he knew how important it was to the success of what he was trying to do. that is what you see from some of these photos and the air attacks. that points out the other thing about macarthur.

macarthur -- this is true of any general or organization or ceo, he needed a good team to get to where you need to go. macarthur had a great team. he had some extremely good engineers, good supply officers. but at the heart were the three k's -- the ground commander, admiral thomas kinkade, the navy commander, and general george kenney, who was an airpower theorist, one of the more innovative american airmen at the time. he was commanding the fifth air force. those three working together, they were able to coordinate, communicate, and collaborate extremely well. when macarthur said i want to leapfrog down the new guinea coast and this is the objective, help me get there. how do we get there? he would give it to those guys.

they and their staffs would figure it out. by the time they got to the philippines, they had the process of an amphibious landing down very well. on several occasions, they were managing three or four separate amphibious landings several hundred miles apart, every single one of them successful. that is a great team at work. whenever you think about macarthur's campaign and his press relations, they often focused on macarthur's campaign, but even macarthur understood that he had good people working under him and working as an , effective team. these guys were contemporaries of macarthur. he knew them and trusted them. and perhaps most importantly, unlike what would get him into trouble later in korea, macarthur's people would be able to tell him no. it was very free discussion. it was a great, great team working together. and it often does not get the credit that it deserved. looming over all of this, for all of the successes in new

guinea, there is still the question -- when and if we are going back to the philippines? macarthur got his answer in the summer of 1944, one of the great moments of the pacific war. it is the pearl harbor conference. right after the democratic national convention had nominated franklin roosevelt for a fourth term, he flew to pearl harbor to meet with admiral chester nimitz, general douglas macarthur, at pearl harbor. and as fdr said, where next? they were nearing the china coast and nearing formosa, and taiwan -- where do we go? nimitz presented a case for formosa. which was very much what the navy department in washington wanted to do but macarthur made , the case for the philippines.

he said mr. president, we have , to go there. there were several reasons. first, strategic. the philippines were in a tremendous strategic position with the best harbor in the far east. we have a chance to use this as a base for further operations against japan and other japanese held areas. there is another reason we have to go back and it is this -- you promised. i shall return -- americans have made a promise to the philippines. we promised independence but we , also promised to redeem. franklin roosevelt even said that. he said -- i pledge the full resources of the united states to stand behind the pledge that the independence of the philippines will be redeemed and protected. dwight out is in our -- dwight eisenhower himself said in 1941, the philippines, asia is watching what we do in the philippines and will excuse

defeat, but they will not excuse abandonment. not sure if macarthur ever read that statement but that is , something he felt in his heart. he argued mr. president, we have , made a promise and we have to go back. there is a moral imperative. and there are 17 million filipinos on the brink of starvation, and there are over 10,000 american prisoners of war that are dying and languishing in prisoner of war camps. we have to go back, we owe it to them. ultimately, what turned the debate was logistics. when asked can you do the , philippines with the resources in the theater that we have including the ships and the men? ,can you do it? macarthur said yes. when asked the same question about the formosa operation, nimitz said -- i need reinforcements from europe. take a look at the date of the pearl harbor conference -- july 26, 1944.

the same time the normandy breakout is happening. the france campaign, which is considered the global priority among the allies, is heating up and advancing towards the german border. there is no way nimitz is getting resources from europe. that decides the decision. macarthur will go back to the philippines. the fact that the united states, alone among the colonial powers, kept that promise, influences the united states position in asia today and in some ways to understand the position in asia, you have to understand this history of world war ii and understand the role of douglas macarthur. that brings us to one of the iconic pictures of one of the iconic moments in the pacific war -- the return of douglas macarthur to the philippines. october 20, 1944. here he is waiting ashore. to his right is the successor of the president of the philippines

commonwealth. that is some strategic communication. macarthur is waiting ashore with the philippine commonwealth president on his right. macarthur wades ashore that morning, october 20, 1944. the picture below, he broadcasts a message to the philippine people. people of the philippines, i have returned. and then three days later he sets up a philippine commonwealth government. that handset is the one he is using to broadcast his return to the philippines. douglas macarthur achieves personal success here that it is not one that is finished until the end of the war. he will spend the rest of the war devoting the larger parts of his energy and the forces under his command to liberating the all of the philippine islands. a task not complete until august when japan surrenders. 15, 1945, at the end of the war, they are planning the invasion

which purports to be one of the of japan great battles in the , history of the world and one of the bloodiest in the history of the world. the atomic bombs of hiroshima and nagasaki resulted in the invasion not needing to be done. they needed a supreme commander for the allied powers to rule japan on behalf of the allies and that job goes to general , macarthur. this is an example of him understanding japan, he studied the japanese for a while and the , far east and had lived in asia for a well but it also shows his , ability to understand the value of symbolism and stage management. that brings me to this display behind me which we will walk to now. another one of the murals which shows the japanese signing the surrender of japan on the deck of the uss missouri, september 2, 1945. you can see some of the principles involved in the

ceremony. here is general macarthur presiding. general richard sutherland. the gentleman to the right of richard sutherland, not wearing a -- man wearing the cap is william holley. behind macarthur are some of the international delegates representing some of the other countries at war with japan. one of the japanese delegates him,the amber are, -- told how could we defeat the whole world? notable people here -- representative from the soviet union, australia, the french, the liberator of paris in 1944, and you can see some of the others including australia, new zealand, canada, and great britain as well. this is the japanese foreign minister. signing. and the chairman of the joint

chiefs for them will sign as well. and then macarthur will sign and then each of the nation s following will sign as well. this is an amazing moment in the history of the world. because macarthur, first of all stage manages the symbolism here. it is anchored in the same spot that commodore william perry anchored his ships when he opened japan to the world in 1853. the flat which was there at the , -- the flag which was there at , the time and represented in this picture is perry's flag. it had been flown out from annapolis. the japanese did not miss the symbolism of that. the other thing macarthur does is he makes sure the ceremony is broadcast to the world through video, but through audio. he makes comments about how -- we are not meeting here in a spirit of hatred or malice. we have two ideals that met on the battlefield. the japanese agreed. we were not beaten just on the

battlefield, but be 10 by a superior idea. macarthur also says -- we have had a last chance. if we do not now find a better or more equitable way to resolve disputes, armageddon will be at our door. it is of the spirit if we are safe -- if we are to save the the flesh. he is advocating for the abolition of war and the abolition of nuclear weapons. what other general, and one of the great triumphs of his life, would make a statement like that? he also sets the right tone talking about the defeat of japan and he gives the japanese , an idea of what is to come. this ceremony itself which only takes 20 minutes, concludes with a massive flyover of allied aircraft. one of the last great symbols of allied power at the end. it is worth pointing out, the war in the pacific is very much an american theater. there are significant australians, and canadians involved.

this is the first time the canadians are involved and ground forces see action in world war ii. british and indians are involved in burma and they are all represented here on the deck. represented all the nations that helped play role in defeating imperial japan. this ceremony ends the war. macarthur has also used it to start the peace and set the right tone for peace. what will come is one of the great stories of reconstruction and occupation in our history. this corridor focuses on the occupation of japan. and macarthur's time in 1945 until his relief in 1951. he was de facto the chief of , state of japan during that time. he was given incredibly broad powers.

when visiting ambassadors would come to tokyo to be stationed to , reopen embassies, they would present their credentials not to the japanese government, but they would come and present them to general macarthur. general macarthur set up his shop in the insurance building in downtown tokyo. his office overlooked the square when in 1942, radio tokyo , announced they were going to hang douglas macarthur as a war criminal. the symbolism of that escaped nobody. now one of the first moments , that macarthur has to set the tone for the occupation of japan is how he chooses to treat the emperor. it is important to keep in mind that japanese society in 1945 had far more in common with medieval europe in many ways in futile society, and how they treated classes and

social structure. to what it does today. the japanese also believed their emperor was a living god and japanese believe that if you look the emperor in the eye, you went blind. this is how he treats the emperor. it will make or break what happens. his staff is convinced -- call on the emperor and show power and strength but he says no. he says if i do that it will debase him in the eyes of his people. the patience of the east will serve our purpose. and it worked. in september 1945, the emperor requested an appointment and macarthur met him -- this is a picture, in the u.s. embassy where they sat and talked for a few minutes. this photograph was taken by the press before the meeting happened. it's a very important photograph because both men use it to send messages to their people about

how they are supposed to regard the other side and the occupation. this is an example of macarthur being able to manage him in the optics situation. casual -- he's wearing his uniform, normally he wears it every day. kind of relaxing. certainly an expression of power and american superiority. hirohito is dressed to the nines. he is standing stiffly, standing at attention. he is obviously uncomfortable. the japanese view this as a sign of respect and deference for the americans. the emperor uses this as a way to show how we should treat the americans.

work with them, treat them with deference and respect and we will get through this process and be able to move forward again. it is one of the more famous pictures of the occupation, and extremely significant moment. macarthur and hirohito signed three copies of this picture. two of them are here and one in the imperial palace. this is a tremendous moment. macarthur later said the success of the occupation was in large part -- was in large part to the attitude of hirohito. japanese people are fascinated by their new show gun, by their new ruler. this is what this little panel shows here. tribute artwork you would find with general mac arthur.

you notice how destroyed japan is. japan faces a famine in the winter of 1946. this is at variance with all previous occupation policies in asia and endears the japanese forever. they start to send tributes to macarthur. tribute sketches and artwork. an editorial cartoon and what he is doing to educate the japanese. this is just a very small tip of the iceberg type look. we will show you a few more here in a few minutes. one of the big things macarthur does is he has plenty of freedom and action to do what he needs to do. very early on macarthur decides

we will release all political prisons and disband the secret police. we are going to enfranchise the women, going to educate people, going to break the peasantry in the class system and basically remake japan into a democratic nation and bring it forward to a democratic republic. one of the ways they do that is through the japanese constitution. macarthur and his staff wrote that constitution and enshrines those values in the japanese constitution. the japanese viewed this as so important. they presented it to general macarthur as a token of thanks. this has ramifications today.

because of article 9, which the macarthur constitution contains. war is forever renounced as a mean of disputing settlements with other nation. the nations of land, sea, and other forces will never be authorized. the fact the japanese have been reinterpreting this to mean collective defense against some of the geopolitical issues in asia these days has become something of a political issue in asia, because it raises the specter of japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen operating in areas they haven't operated in since world war ii. this remains a geopolitical issue to this day, directly tied to the occupation and to douglas macarthur.

the occupation continued to work. they reformed it culturally and a lot of different ways. these items show a little more about how the effect has. this photo of mrs. macarthur, she was something of the first lady of japan. she would travel the country and was a tremendous goodwill ambassador. here she is on one of her tours. this is general macarthur going to his limo. the japanese try to get a glimpse of the great general macarthur.

every january 26, on macarthur's birthday, there would be a group of japanese that would sing happy birthday and raise flags. if you think about it it was probably unthinkable, what it says something about how the country converted and really the success of the occupation. baseball items here, macarthur reintroduced baseball to the islands. a very popular game that baseball is now in japan. this gives you a sense of macarthur in japan. the connection there remains here remain strong. what i am going to show you illustrates exactly what i am talking about. one of the things that keeps in

mind is that gifts forms a tribute that cements relationships. these cases here with the amazing asian art, the 15,000 objects. 4000 or more are asian objects. given by humble people, some handmade themselves to heads of state, giving objects a great value. these pieces, which you see here to everything else was a perfect example of the steam in which douglas macarthur was held. objects of sentimental value, objects of monetary value. in many ways it is still regarded in that part of the world.

the occupation of japan is not it. unfortunately, the end of the ware was not the end of conflict in the world. that's the next story here. at the end of world war ii, the korean peninsula had been administratively divided between the soviet union and the united states at the 39th parallel. the americans would do the same in the southern part of the peninsula. the 38th parallel soon hardened into an international divide. the democratic people's republic of korea invaded south korea. both of these countries had been created in 1948. and that started the korean war. the korean war is very much a

watershed. mainly because it is the first united nations war. the united nations security council meets and votes to help the republic of korea. and asked its members to continue forces under the overall command of an american officer. creates a u.n. command. on july 14, 1950, macarthur raises the u.n. flag. this is the first u.n. war, this is the first real mission for the security council. it makes it something of a watershed. by the time the korean war is over, and armistice was signed.

troops from australia, new zealand, turkey, france, greece, belgium, the philippines, if you are, south africa, italy, denmark, italy, norway, and sweden have all contributed units. today, south korea, if you count the nations that rebuild it, south korea holds the record of nations that holds sustained independence but rebuilds it after the war. the korean people every year do a display of flags. they say thank you for what has been done.

one of the things that needs to be noted is korean people could have chosen and the south koreans could have knuckled under. instead they chose to fight. they committed themselves to the defense of korea. for reasons we will see, the commitment remains intact to this day. we set up the korean war. let's talk about the korean war, 1950 to 1953. the 38th parallel runs right here. for those in the united states, charlottesville, virginia is just north of the 38th parallel. this is to give you an idea of how it fits in geographically on a map of the united states. here's the south korean capital of seoul. china is here. japan is barely on the map right here. they attack southward and very quickly push the south koreans. in the area here 100 miles long.

they control 85% of the peninsula, just six weeks after the war starts. in one of the great defensive stance in the united states army, hold off all north korean attacks and hold the perimeter. some incredibly desperate fighting. they are to their last reserves. absolutely incredible, incredible stand by the americans. try to figure out what to do. he looks at the map and realizes

and lands and cut the korean supply line. the problem is they have some of the highest tides in the world. it can only be landed on a couple of days per month. the port back at washington is convinced this is not a good idea. the fact the north koreans are not expected, it means it was a great idea. he pushes it through. the first marine division land here september 15, 1950. meanwhile a breakout from the perimeter and destroyed the bulk of the north korean army right here. pushed back to the 48th parallel. the u.n. security council who said liberate south korea, passes a new resolution.

push north in north korea. china, which had gone communist the year before, and it doesn't have relations with united states were diplomatic relations with a lot of countries in command. if you approach the river, we will be forced to act. mac arthur meets with truman in the wake island's. the eighth army in this area, operating in this area over here, find some chinese volunteers. macarthur discounts them and launches directive to be home by christmas right before thanksgiving 1950. fighting a very desperate battle this year on the river. u.s. marines are surrounded by

the chinese. they begin to fight their way down the coast. it is not retreat, it is an attack on another direction. the seventh division right here, turn around, retreat back, and 105,000 americans and koreans pullout september 12 through 24. there were 100,000 korean refugees that has lived in the north and doesn't want to say. they show up in the port. a controversial figure, but i do have to say this, whatever spare shipping space there is i want you to take refugees. 98,000 people get out and evacuate. five children are born at sea.

this has such a profound impact. they made a movie about it. there are a lot of people that say this cemented our relationship with the korean people. this remains a big moment in our relationship with the republic of korea. that doesn't disguise the fact that the chinese have pushed these forces south. the u.n. forces in the longest retreat in the history of the united states army back down the vicinity. the chinese launched another attack and pushed the u.n. forces south. walton walker having died in a traffic accident. fights his way back into finally lays waste to the peninsula.

macarthur and truman have gone back and forth on policy. macarthur wants to fight to the finish -- there is no substitute. the soviet union is right here. the soviet union has a mutual defense pact with the chinese. that probably means world war iii. wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. this dispute becomes public. the negotiations open for an armistice, takes two years to hammer out an agreement. battle lines don't move significantly from where they stopped the summer of 1951. and in july 27, 1953 the armistice takes effect.

there has never been a peace treaty. technically, the two koreas remain at war. one of the negotiating points about the nuclear armaments is give us a piece treatment, give us to dramatic recognition. so it remains a geopolitical issue today. how we handle macarthur's firing. here on this side is his account of the issue at hand and what happened. behind me is truman's account. there is something to keep in mind. they were both right, they were both wrong. truman was right. wrong place, wrong time. a third world war was definitely avoided. but there is no substitute for

victory. we are still there. this is still the most heavily militarized border in the world. north korea remains a dangerous foe just like it was in 1951, 1952, 1953. he came home and addressed congress in 1951. one of the lines was old soldiers never die, they just fade away. he, his wife, and their son became a fixture in new york city. macarthur was an avid baseball fan. loved watching sports.

very interested in what is going on on the athletic field. general macarthur wrote his reminiscences. we have the entire handwritten manuscript. almost no corrections. mcarthur had a very sharp mind. he was known to have a photographic memory. it seems the thoughts came out of his head fully formed. almost without needing revision. it is absolutely an amazing manuscript when you flip through the pages. macarthur became something of an elder statesman. he met with john kennedy. he was here with lyndon johnson just a few weeks before his death. in both cases he told them to stay out of a country called vietnam.

macarthur between old age and liver problems begins to fade shortly after his 84th birthday and he dies at walter reed. a seven regiment armory. and here in the rotunda of the macarthur memorial. mcarthur said i would be at the dedication, which was originally scheduled to be memorial day, he said i will be there alive or dead. it was considered the de facto dedication of the macarthur memorial. macarthur always felt this place was not always just about him. this was from his dedication speech which he never gave.

from his notes, he always felt very strongly about the millions of men and women who fought the world wars. we are about the men and women with whom he served, telling their stories as well. we certainly hope you will come and explore that. this is from the macarthur funeral. this is the flag. they are folding it in this picture. as far as i'm concerned it will never be unfolded. the bugle that played "taps." and the presidential proclamation from general johnson. marking the passing of general douglas macarthur. our next stop will show you the

general's medals and iconic items, give you a sense of the man, who she was, and what he did.o he was, and what he this is our concluding gallery. in many ways it is the essence of macarthur. the first thing i want to show you are three of the absolute iconic pieces. he wore them all through the occupation of japan, all through korea, all of those pictures, those iconic pictures, that is the hat he is wearing. his pipe, one of 95 pipes in our collections that macarthur had. general macarthur's ray-ban sunglasses. these are iconic symbols of an iconic american general.

general macarthur's medals, we have two cases. the first is foreign decorations to the left. we have a reconstruction of general macarthur's uniform. general macarthur is one of the most highly decorated soldiers in history. two of the items are extremely evocative. the first is general macarthur's medal of honor. macarthur himself always understood, i accept this not on

my behalf, but on behalf of the men and women, it was my honor and privilege to command. macarthur was always ambivalent about this because it reminded him about the time, he never was photographed or had a public ceremony. he mentioned it only once in his memoir. this was also a personal milestone. his father had earned the medal of honor for the battle of chattanooga. his father arthur macarthur at age 18. he became the first medal of honors father-son combination. to earn the medal of honor and do something his father had done was personally very gratifying. at the same time, the circumstances in which it was awarded undoubtedly added a shear of veneer and emotion that otherwise might not have been there. the second one i want to show

you is the purple heart. it fell into disuse. in 1932, while chiefs of staff of the army reinstituted the purple heart -- macarthur having been gassed twice in world war i was entitled to two purple hearts he made it retroactive. these are the purple hearts you see here. they used to be serial numbered. this is purple heart number one here. i want you to take a look at it. there is a bunch of george washington around. that's because this was in the manila hotel when the macarthur penthouse was destroyed. this was one of the very few

survivors of macarthur's things. so we have it on display here. it also tells the story of survival and the destruction in 1945. the last piece that gives you the essence of macarthur and what i want to leave you with is our rotunda, which is the final resting place. we will conclude over there. this is our rotunda. it is the center piece of the memorial building. it contains the last resting place of general macarthur and also flags both his personal flags and the units that fell under his command. this is the other room that gives you the essence of macarthur, who he was and what he stood for.

we hope you enjoy this tour of some great history. we invite you to come on down and visit us in downtown norfolk. announcer: you can watch this and other american artifacts by visiting our website. www.c-span.org. we have a special webpage at www.c-span.org to help you follow the supreme court. go to c-span.org and select supreme court. once on our page, you will see 4 of the most horrible arguments heard by the court and click on bellevue all link. in addition, you can find recent appearances by many justices or watches justices in their own ones including one on interviews with 6 -- supreme

court kagan. there's also a calendar with links to see all of their appearances on c-span as well as many other videos available on demand. follow the supreme court as c-span.org. announcer: up next on american history tv, a debate focused on the question was john quincy adams a realist? an author of pierce on stage with columnist robin kagan to discuss the legacy of the sixth president. [applause] >> thanks very much. tonight bob and i are having a debate, but it won't be that kind of debate.