Macarthur memorial in norfolk, virginia. My name is christopher kolakowski. This is a Museum Dedicated to the life and times of general Douglas Macarthur, who lived inm 1880 until his death 1964 at the age of 84. I want to show you some of the treasures from our exhibit. Lets go take a look. In the oldted norfolk city hall, which was built actually in 1950 and was given over and converted to the macarthur memorial in we start with his family, really the 6,400 question why is the macarthur memorial in norfolk . The short answer is mom. Let me show you a photograph of his mother and also the family estate. Here is the family estate in the south side of the city. It is now a city park. Here is his mother who was born in norfolk and had Four Brothers who joined up to the Confederate Army from norfolk during the civil war. He was the youngest of the children. After the war in northlands, she met a man named Arthur Macarthur who had earned the medal of honor in the battle of chattanooga. They fell in love. When they got married, her three brothers who had served in the army and the cousins found other places to be during the wedding ceremony. They were not able to make it. One of the things that people do not realize about the macarthur memorial is that we are not all guns and battle. We are really about people and history. I like to show his baby picture. He was born in little rock, arkansas where his father was stationed at the time. You can see the photograph here of his other brothers. Including his older brother, arthur who went to annapolis and graduated from the Naval Academy. That is what these pictures show. They give you a sense of his family life. Douglas macarthur came back in 1951, he dedicated the old family estate as a city park. He said when i come to norfolk, i feel like i have come home. When he came back, he referred to it as the reunion of blue and gray personified. He said, finally i feel like i have come home. He regarded norfolk as his spiritual home. The mayor remember that. In the early 1960s, when macarthur was trying to figure out what to do with his papers and artifacts, duckworth came to him and played on that and said i will build you a memorial, and archive, and a research center. Macarthur said i love it and can i be buried here with my wife . Sure, and we will give you the Old City Hall to do it. That singed the deal. They outbid the smithsonian and the war college and west point. We do not just have his mothers family here that we have some artifacts from his fathers service. Here is a photograph of Arthur Macarthur from the 24th wisconsin. At age 18, he earned the medal of honor for leadership under fire. He becomes the exemplar for Douglas Macarthur. In many ways, to understand Douglas Mcarthur and what he strives to become you have to understand his fathers career. He served in the spanishamerican war and fights in the philippines. This is one of his swords from the philippines. A novel was written about it when people look at that, they think it must be douglas in world war ii. This was arthur back about a quarter of a century before that. For a long time in the philippines, douglas was known as macarthur the younger to differentiate him from macarthur the elder. One of the other neat things that people do not realize that we have is what is in this case right here. From Arthur Macarthur. This was his field desk from the philippines. He was a senior american officer in the philippines. Military governor of the philippines also until he ran afoul of the civilian governor who was appointed over him, William Howard taft. The other thing i would point out is that down here, is Arthur Macarthurs glasses. You see pictures of him in later life and he looks a lot like teddy roosevelt. These are the glasses he is wearing in those pictures. 1898 is when the spanishamerican war started and Arthur Macarthur was on his way to command american troops in the campaign. After the battle of manila. His son douglas, 18 years old, had just graduated from west Texas Military academy and had grown up idolizing his father and wants to go with his dad as a volunteer aide. Arthur macarthur performed a brave service at this moment. He turned to his son and said son, you have an appointment to west point. I want you to take that appointment. This will not be the last war. This will not be the last war but it will be my last war. Your job is to prepare yourself for that time. So douglas took his advice and went off to west point. Incidentally, mom followed along because with her oldest boy in the u. S. Navy, her husband going off to fight in the philippines, she really did not have anywhere else to go. So she took up residence for the next four years in the hotel. People joked that arthur and mary graduated at the same time although Mary Macarthur performed a valuable service. She would often host an offcampus gathering place. It was not all bad. She was very much a cadet friend. West point was greatly formative for Douglas Macarthur. In 1962, he said that his credo had been duty, honor, and country and west point really influenced him until his last days. In many different ways. Obviously through the education. He had one of the most outstanding academic records in the history of west point. First captain in his class. One of the things that really drove home to him was the idea that the way to become a leader and a good soldier was on the athletic field. You learn things like discipline, leadership. His First Leadership role had been in high school as quarterback of the High School Football team. He managed the Football Team in 1904. When he was there, one of his players was Joseph Stillwell who also was the one that brought basketball to west point. But arthur also played baseball. Another thing we have on display is a box score from the first time the Naval Academy played the west point academy. Batting second is Douglas Macarthur. He ended up scoring the winning run. After graduation, macarthur took a commission in the corps of engineers. That took him on duty. One of the advantages that he had and one of the significant moments of his career was in 1905 when his father who at the time was a senior ranking general in the army, a threestar general and only the chief of staff ranked higher. He was given a task to tour the far east and observe the russojapanese war. He took his young son, lieutenant Douglas Macarthur to observe. This was a very important period. He wrote in his memoirs, ever after asia had fastened itself with a grip that never relaxed. He said that he realized on that trip that the fate of the United States was forever bound in the far east. That is an attitude he gained that would color and influence his days for the rest of his life. He becomes a pan asian general for the u. S. The other thing about this period from 1905 to 1916 occurred in 1916. He becomes the first public chief of information in the history of the u. S. Army. They never had a Public Affairs officer. This is important because Douglas Macarthur learns press relations, he learns how to promote and this is also the time of the great debate over what the army, and navy will look like. They know that world war i has been going on since 1814 and the American People know that eventually they will get dragged into it. What do we need to do to get the army and the navy ready . As the chief of public information, Douglas Macarthur was at the forefront telling the story of the army, showcasing it, and how to get it from where it is to where it needs to be. A lot of people criticized Douglas Macarthur later for a flare of publicity and that he was a shameless self promoter. There is a certain amount of truth to that but you need to remember that he learned that at a very early age. He learned that at the early age. And in many ways, he was ahead of his contemporaries in terms of press relations. And the skills he will learn here he will use for the rest of his career. And with that, let us go upstairs and take a look at macarthur in world war i. World war i started in august, 1914 but the u. S. Did not get involved until 1917. The army at the time numbered only about 400,000 active, reserve, and National Guard. Over the next 18 months, the army would grow to 4 million. A tremendous war effort on the part of the u. S. At the core of this was Douglas Macarthur. One of the first things the National Guard is vying for is the right for the first group over to france. They want to send an American Expeditionary force. Rather than have a state Division Like pennsylvania, new york rather than giving one state the whole thing, they created an amalgamation of states. As many as they could put into one infantry division. They ended with 26 states and the District Of Columbia represented in this division. It was known as the 42nd division. They were trying to think of a nickname. He said it will stretch like a rainbow across the country. So it was the 42nd rainbow division. The 42nd division fought in world war i, world war ii, and remains on the books today. Douglas macarthur, because he was perfectly situated, appoints himself colonel and chief of staff of the 42nd division. He will end up being chief of staff and he will later command the 84th brigade, one half of the division during world war i in combat. At the end and for the occupation of germany and the rhineland, late 1918, until most of 1919, he will be division commander. The Youngest Division commander in the world war i and the youngest general. He was promoted to brigadier general. This object behind me is macarthurs traveling trunk. This befits a senior officer. Most men, most soldiers carried what they owned on their back but the Senior Officers are allowed to bring their own baggage. This is his trunk. It has uniforms and it is worth pointing out that american uniforms, american soldiers lived and worked in the same uniform. Unlike later times. Macarthur was a very well read officer. A student of military history and he had various books as well as files and papers. He had a sewing kit which soldiers nicknamed the housewife. By the way, i should point out that officers bought their own uniforms. Which is a tradition that remains part of the u. S. Army today. The last thing i want to show you is may be the most important thing in this trunk. It is the straight razors. Why is this you ask . In world war i, was the introduction of the use of chemical warfare. A mans ability to get his gas mask on in seconds was the difference between death and life. A gas mask does not get a good seal on the face if there is stubble or a beard. And so, effective use of the razor and keeping yourself cleanshaven can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. I mentioned macarthurs brother in passing and i want to call your attention to this plaque for the uss chattanooga. Arthur macarthur hunted german submarines during the First World War across the atlantic. He achieved quite a record doing it. This was a plaque from the uss chattanooga that he commanded. We looked at how the u. S. Gets in the was and we looked at how macarthur gets into france. Let us look at the battlefield. To tell that story, we have a section of reproduced trench. It shows you a little bit of the depth of trench warfare. And how infantrymen lived in trenches. It started with a stalemate on the western front in belgium and france starting in october 1914 continuing without letup until the summer of 1918. It cut almost a 500 mile scar from the north sea in belgium to the swiss border. The trenches themselves, allied and german. Sometimes, no mans land. The space in between was often measured in just yards. The trenches were higher than a man stood tall. There is a fair amount of protection. This soldier here who is on the firing step is peering out over into no mans land. He is watching the enemy. Every morning and evening, they had what was called stand to in case the enemy tried to do something crazy. Everyone was in fighting positions. That is what he is doing here. One thing you will notice he is very low to the ground but he is poking his head up to see what is going on. If he poked up his head too far, there was probably a german sniper not too far away that would drill him in the forehead. Snipers and artillery in particular were very serious weapons. Trenches are very confined spaces. You have to live and work there. There was a lot of other forms of life that lived there including rats, fleas, ticks and all kinds of things. In a good rainstorm, they can flood. There is some iconic photographs of the trenches in flanders where the men are fighting in kneehigh or waist high water. There were dugouts where men could bunk. Bugs and dirt are ever present. Part of the physical stress and the psychological stress of the enemy being this close and death being one wrong movement away, had a psychological toll on these guys. By the time these guys on average, a soldier would spend four days in a frontline trench, four days in a rear trench in a support position, and then they would spend a week on rest. In the rear for maintenance and training and replenishing supplies. That was the rotation. Four days on the front, four days in reserve, and a week of rest and start the cycle again. The last thing i would point out to you is the combat in the trenches was often short, sharp, and brutal. If you went over the top, a lot of men never made it to the barbed wire halfway across no mans land. If you rated the enemy trench or if the enemy graded your trench, it would be close quarter combat with knives, pistols, sometimes dressed knuckles. This was also the first war to illustrate this point and the ferocity of the close quarter contact. This was also the first war where soldiers were issued shotguns. They were called trench guns and were designed specifically for use in close quarters. It can be very intense or boring at times. The trenches were not a Pleasant Place to be. Everyone longed for war to move again. This brings me to the last piece where we will talk about Douglas Macarthur on the battlefield. One of the best illustrations we this brings me to the last piece where we will talk about Douglas Macarthur on the battlefield. One of the best illustrations we have is taken from some photographs. This brings me to the first of a series of murals done specifically for the memorial. By a guy named alton tobey in 1965. It shows different aspects and segments of Douglas Macarthurs life. This is one of the first. There are a lot of things going on in this portrait. They tell you about him on the battlefield as well as american troop on the battlefield. You can see americans marching forward to engage in combat. Macarthur was involved in several battles during the summer of 1918 in the champlain region. And the argonne offensive in 1918. This is probably late fall judging by the weather. You notice most of the men are marching forward. You notice this officer here standing with binoculars. That is General Macarthur. He adopted a distinct look. He realized that as a chief of staff, he had a good staff and he realized that to keep up his mens morale and help them cope , he had to be there for a quick battlefield decision, he had to be up front. In order for his men to realize the boss is here he decided to dress distinctly. There is nothing unusual about that. George patton wore a distinctive look in world war ii that was made famous. There are many other generals that cut distinctive figures so that their men knew here is the boss. There is one officer in the American Army in france that dresses like this. If you see someone like this, it is General Macarthur. You notice he is not wearing a gas mask. He was gassed twice in the war. He also issued orders that if anyone followed his example, they would be courtmartialed. This is important not only for the distinctive look but look at where he is. In an era where most generals were in the rear, comfortably, macarthur is up front also it is not wearing a weapon. He would often lead attacks carrying nothing but a riding crop, which you see in his lefthanded. The men looked at this and realized if the colonel and take it, i cant take it also. That is called command presence. Not just bravado. He wrote later that leadership is often crystallized in a visible way, a visible manifestation. By being up front, by being fearless, it shows that he was leading in a very visible way. Douglas macarthur in world war i was the most decorated american. He earned seven silver stars, the English Service cross, and a host of other medals. To end on a light note. This getup almost caused him. Cost him. In early november 1918, as the americans are racing forward in victory, there is an order given to ignore divisional boundaries. Macarthur was commanding the eta for the brigade and decided to seize an objective in a neighboring sector. He goes over to reconnect the area and gets captured by a First Division soldier. The soldier had never seen an american dressed like this. It took him six hours to convince them that he was an american. It is only when the 84th realized where is our general that they realized who he was. , macarthur, leading from the front and very much cut from the same cloth of the other great leaders. World war i in particular helped solidify who he was and how he would lead forward. Even in world war ii and korea, he leads from the front in most cases. Where would he get that idea of being out front . And being among the soldiers, the ian able to make a quick battlefield decision if necessary . He got it in the trenches in france in 1918. The war ends november 11, 1918 and macarthurs career in some ways is only just beginning. He is a Major General at the end of the war and he is destined for great things. Let us look at macarthur in the interwar period. I will stop you here and show you that this is General Macarthur coming home in 1919. He dressed extremely well. He cut a very fine figure. The men of the 42nd division, if he ever ran across a veteran of the 42nd division in later life, he always had time for them. He always attended the reunions. The 42nd was always a big part of his life. As a matter of fact, tributes from the division throughout the rest of his life were some of his most cherished artifacts. The division has donated all of the artifacts and memorabilia to the memorial about five years ago in recognition of his strong presence. The other reason i thought to stop here is to talk about 1919 as something of a watershed. When we do tours for military groups and schoolchildren, one of the things i always point out to people is, i ask them this question when was the map of the middle east drawn . It was drawn at versailles at the end of world war i. If you look at the middle east today, those borders have only existed for less than 100 years. If you look at the middle east him today you can imagine iraq, jordan, and israel there is a reason why iraq and jordan are shaped the way they are. The reason they way, so that the british, if the suez canal was ever closed, would still have a land route to cross. Those borders have created all sorts of political problems but it all goes back to the end of the First World War with the treaty of versailles. Something to keep in mind. When you think about the history there is a relevance to it. There is a lot of parts of of the world like this. To understand the world, you have to understand the things that went on during General Macarthur. Of which this is only the first example. Macarthur comes back at the end of world war i and becomes superintendent of west point. This is the superintendents house where he lived. This is a watercolor of the house. When macarthur got to west point, virtually little had changed in 100 years. He realized you cannot just train engineers. It was one of the finest engineering schools and still is in many ways. We cannot just train them. We have to train officers and just to beot professionals but also to take command of a Mass Citizen Army and lead them on a modern battlefield with mechanization. Things like that. Warfare has changed a lot since the civil war. Certainly after the war with spain. So macarthur set about under great resistance to change and modernize west point. A lot of it stuck. He is known today as the father of the modern west point. Two of the more prominent examples of his reforms that have endured the most the first, west point has always had an honor code but it has never been formalized with an agreedupon language until macarthur was superintendent. The other thing that he did and this is something that is literally etched in stone at the military academy, is he instituted a real boost for army athletics. For the rest of his life, he was a booster for army athletics. And that goes back to his playing days. He actually had it inscribed over the gymnasium on the field of friendly strife are sown seeds that upon other fields on other days will bear the fruits of victory. This is where you learn the discipline, leadership skills to prepare yourselves for an athletic competition, and you get the leadership skills you will need to lead men and women on the battlefield. And that is where he macarthur firmly lived that out in his life. He was not the only one to believe that but he was able to institutionalize that. While there, he also gets married for the first time at age 42. On valentines day 1922, he marries Louise Cromwell brooks after a short courtship. Very happy marriage for the first few years. But it will end in divorce in the latter part of the 1920s. This is a photograph of General Macarthur and his first wife louise. One of the invitations and a box of that shared pieces of the wedding cake. The other thing macarthur did as superintendent of west point is he hosted dignitaries including the prince of wales in 1922. Walking with the general, both veterans of the western front i can only imagine what they talk about at the dinner table. The prince of wales eventually becomes king edward the eighth. As we come down after macarthur leaves west point in 1922, he goes to the philippines for a while and in 1924 or 1925, it was a tough time for General Macarthur. In december 1923, his brother dies of appendicitis. He is on his way to admiral. He dies as a captain. This was one of the great whatifs. One of his contemporaries, they are the senior American Navy officers that continued into the second world war. This is one of the great whatifs, if brother had not died. That is the first great tragedy that strikes. The second, not necessarily a tragedy but it has an emotional component to it. It was the courtmartial of Billy Mitchell, the great airpower pioneer, a great air leader from world war i. From milwaukee. Which is douglass fathers hometown. As a matter of fact, douglas and Billy Mitchell had known each other as kids. They had grown up in with each other in some ways. And to sit on the courtmartial of an old family friend could not have been easy for the general. We do not know how he voted but Billy Mitchell was convicted. It was a real down time for General Macarthur. Certainly on a personal level. In 1928, an interesting thing that most people do not realize he ran the u. S. Olympic team. They delegate them physically fit the team and coaches and lead them as the senior American Olympic official to amsterdam for the summer games. The events at the time and amount of participating countries is probably about one third of what will be that of what it will be in 2016. Still no less of an event. The u. S. Earned more gold medals than any other country in the 1928 games. When General Macarthur was roundly praised for his performance with the u. S. Olympic team. And he represented them well. A little known fact the u. S. Army has had a role in every single olympic team since 1896. George patton was an olympian in 1912. U. S. Army shooting team represented the United States in london in 2012 and they will again in rio in 2016. So there has always been soldier participation in every olympic team. 1928 was a special because a general ran the olympic team. The 1930s. To another important time in his life. He has now achieved just about everything has father had achieved in his army career except for one thing. His father was never chief of staff of the army, the seniormost Commanding Officer of the army. In 1930, Douglas Macarthur managed to do what his father never did and he becomes chief of staff of the army. A post he will hold for the next five years. This was a really rough time for the United States. The great depression. The stock market had crashed in 1929. Mcarthur has a very turbulent time as chief of staff of the army. Several things go on that contribute to that turbulence. The first is when the stock market crashes, 25 of the country goes into the darkest deepest depression it is ever had and there are a lot of veterans that have been promised bonuses. They were promised their first payment in 1935. Several thousand of them march on washington in early 1932 and camp out in southeastern washington on the anacostia flat to ask congress we are destitute and we have nowhere else to go. Can you help us out and advance our bonuses and pay them immediately . And they become known, or the grouping becomes known as the Bonus Expeditionary force. In the summer of 1932, macarthur who is chief of staff of the army, receives orders to clear out the men against the advice of one of his aides, Dwight David Eisenhower who later becomes president a dons his uniform and goes off to command the troops. L3, among them one of the officers is george patton. Soldiers and clear it out in a violent move. A few casualties and wounds. But the pictures of the burning of the camp and the way that the American Army treated veterans of the previous battles was one of the darker moments of his career. He later tries to paint those will men as something of a communist uprising. He tries to buy the best face forward on it. But it remains one of the more controversial aspects of his career. The other thing about macarthurs career as chief of staff is budget. In and this is something we used to teach and exercise in judgment. They need leaders to think about the future of the organization. The army was the largest part of the federal budget. Every year that he was chief of staff but for the last, it took a 10 cut every year. Macarthur quickly had to prioritize. Do i save programs or do i save people . And do i Save Development . And he made the following choice, i could cut programs, and he wrote later, the only weapon that cannot be extemporized, is the leadership. And so if i can keep the experienced officers and senior personnel in the army, that will be the foundation for the army of the future if we ever have to go back to war. Keep in mind, this is the early 1930s. Hitler has risen in germany. Mussolini is rearming italy. Fascism is on the march. Japan is marching in the far east. There are prospects for war in the future. Who did macarthur keep in the army . Who stayed in . George marshall. Mark clark. Patton. Dwight eisenhower. Walter krueger. Collins. In other words, all of the generals. Virtually all of the generals that could fight and win in the second will work. Win the second world war. He also saved research and development dollars. What is developed at this time . The m1 rifle. The thompson submachine gun. The b17 bomber. German tank. The p 40. The p 41. The thunderbolt. All started their development under macarthur. These are the weapons that will be used, the most famous ones that will be used by the American Army to win the second world war. The last impact of macarthur as chief of staff and one of the things he did to find jobs for these people he was maintaining, was macarthur assumed control of a conservation corps. George marshall said later this was his experience with vast mobilization organized for an objective. Organizing ccc camps in illinois. What the ccc does, the National Parks and infrastructure. They did all of this public works. It was performed under the ccc in the 1930s under the u. S. Army. It is a tremendous legacy. It will remain visible in our country as a national treasure. So macarthurs tenure as chief of staff of the army was a very positive thing. And it had some negative things as well. It was certainly turbulent. But he stays in it for five years. More than the normal traditional four years. , in 1945, there is not really a suitable job for him. He has done everything an army officer can expect to do. At least at that point and what had gone be or. Until the philippines a place he has been before. A place he has always enjoyed andy please where he has and a place where he has friends. They hire him as their military officer. They need someone to advise and create a Philippine Army and who better to do that than the outgoing u. S. Army chief of staff. Macarthur accepts. In the fall of 1935, he leaves washington. He moves to manila to build the Philippine Army. And live out his days in the philippines. Fate has something different. You can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website. Next, michael holt discusses his book, by one vote the disputed president ial election of 1876. Wins by a b. Hayes single its world moved in 1876, in a contest that produced a higher voter turnout in u. S. History. This is about one hour. Good morning. This is the 150th anniversary of abraham lincolns first inaugural. It is very appropriate we should be talking about a civil war and post civil war topic today. It is a pleasure to welcome to the for him and introduce forum