George S. Patton Quotes
It is always awfully easy to say what she would have done after you haven’t done it
George S. Patton, 1885-1945, U.S. Army General, Third Army Press Conference, September 7, 1944
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MacArthur was not difficult and unaccepting of higher authority just in the Korean War. He was dissatisfied with American strategy in WWII. He was very unhappy with the decision that placed defeat of Germany and Hitler as a higher priority than his defeat of Japan. He perceived himself as the most qualified and senior American military man and resented the fact that others were making the big strategic decisions and not acceding to his views sufficiently. Also, Dwight Eisenhower had been appointed as Supreme Commander of the European Front which had the highest priority. MacArthur, a man with a huge ego, saw Eisenhower, who had served under MacArthur earlier, as a competent “junior” officer. See {605728} for insight into has view of Eisenhower. While it was certainly true that if given more gasoline, men and armaments, McArthur could have done more and faster, it would have to be taken from the effort to subjugate Germany which would have had to slow down.
Although the two men differed on a very important issue, each admired the other and acquitted themselves politely throughout. Congress explicitly gave the President the powers that he had exercised and won the dispute. But Dixon had also won, and upheld the law as it existed until it was changed.
George Smith Patton Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
