Don't care for the man as a general. His initial lack of response to the news of the Pearl Harbor attack absolutely doomed the Phillipines and the men who defended it. He should have been sent back to the states to push pencils for that.

But the man was one hell of a self-promoter. Perhaps the first media general.

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Don't care for the man as a general. His initial lack of response to the news of the Pearl Harbor attack absolutely doomed the Phillipines and the men who defended it. He should have been sent back to the states to push pencils for that.

But the man was one hell of a self-promoter. Perhaps the first media general.

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First of all,

I would say the Phillipines were doomed regardless, once the Japanese decided to invade. Yes, Mac Arthur's actions and decisions might (especially in hindsight) have hastened the fall, but there was (in hindsight) little he could have done to prevent an eventual fall. Not only was the US in any way shape or form capable of sending any additional aid to the Phillipines. Mind you, sheer luck AND the breaking of the Japanese codes enabled the US to face (and eventually defeat) the Japanese at Midway.
Another problem was the widespread belief within ALL western militaries (and also politics) that the Japanese were completely inferior, and that Japanese successes in China and against Russia earlier that centruy had as much to do with the ineptness of the Japanese foes as the qualities of the Japanese... and that when the Japanese would face the Western powers, they would falter...

Also, Mac Arthur was far from the only self-promotor, or the first media-general. Other notables:

Mark Clark: His desire for glory through (especially) the use of American troops, and mis-trust of non-American troops, the French in particular, cost thousands of soldiers, many Americans among them) their lives in front of Monte Cassino. Likewise he refused to lsiten to the advise of others (including the British that had far more experince fighting the Germans). An unforgiveable mistake though, as almost all these troops were superior to the American units available. It is ironic that the Cassino position was eventually unhinged and cracked by French (primarily) and Polish and other commonwealth units (secondary).
To make matters worse, combined with the Anzio breakout he had the opportunity to destroy the German army in Italy. But in his hunt for glory to be the liberator of Rome and not be overshadowed by the eventual landings in France he ordered the avdnce guard to halt, even though they were only a few miles away from trapping the German army. This in direct violation of orders form his superior!.

Patton: If there ever was a prime example of a media-general it is Patton. Not only did he have the advantage of being able to exploit the rivalry between the British and Americans in the US media, he also cleverly used the fact that the British tended to get bogged down facing the best German forces. For instance, when he got into the action in Normandy, the German armored units were already heavily engaged facing the British and US forces, and had been heavily mauled in the fighting. He in many ways literally struck out into air. One of the pincers that was supposed to trap the Germans at Falaise was formed by his army. Similarly, his strike into southern Germany was relatively into thin air, with most German forces engaged somewhere else... And of course the Taskforce Baum suicide mission is in my opinion unforgiveable... and in most likelyhood resulted in the exact opposite of what was intended.

Where you might find reason to criticise him would be in Sicily where the German forces escaped largely intact while Patton was racing with Montgomery to capture Palermo and Messina.

I won't go into detail as not nice to talk about the dead.

As for Doug being wasteful of lives, he started the 'island hopping' and 'whither on the vine' strategies.