Despite fighting in North Africa and the Atlantic, the United States still had the resources and manpower to fight the Japanese in the Pacific. Though the Japanese had crippled the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, its distance from Japan made an invasion of Pearl Harbor impossible, and Japan had not severely damaged important infrastructure. Thus, the United States was able to quickly rebuild a fleet, still stationed at Pearl Harbor right in the heart of the Pacific. This forward location allowed the United States to immediately push deeply into the Pacific theater.
The Americans would eventually push the Japanese back across the Pacific, and one of the most instrumental leaders in the effort was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet and helped coordinate joint operations with the legendary General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area.
Today, Nimitz’s name doesn’t ring as many bells as his counterpart’s, because of all the military men America produced during the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s hard to find one as important, successful, and controversial as General MacArthur. The son of a Civil War veteran, MacArthur rose to become the most instrumental commander in the Pacific Theater during World War II. His legendary return to the Philippines in 1944 made good on one of the war’s most famous vows, and it was MacArthur who fittingly oversaw the occupation and reconstruction of Japan following the war.
Given his long and celebrated career, MacArthur was the obvious choice to lead the newly created United Nations’ troops during the Korean War, but his arguments over war strategy and policy eventually led to his controversial firing by President Harry Truman in 1951. After that, in his own words, he “faded away,” living out his remaining days on the top floor of the Waldorf Hotel until his death in 1964.
