Jared Sparks Quotes

This testimony turned out to be a tactical error. The main purpose of Tojo was to protect Emperor Hirohito from responsibility for the war. See {587277}. But by admitting that he never disobeyed even the Emperor’s wishes, he made it clear that he had implemented the Emperor’s desired policies. Therefore, Hirohito must have been responsible. After this testimony there was some delay and he changed his testimony claiming that once he disobeyed the Emperor when he took the nation to war. Few believed this second version, but it was sufficient to keep Hirohito from being charged—which despite many calls for his trial, General MacArthur also did not want the Emperor brought to account as the institution was making the occupation of Japan very easy.

Miles, a hero of the Indian Campaigns (although he led the atrocities at the massacre at Wounded Knee) and then the leading military figure in America was an opponent of the policies of the new young President and had political aspirations of his own for the Presidency. Miles’ opinions were printed in the press. He maintained that he was not speaking as the Commanding General of the Army but personally as a citizen. The President surprised almost all by publicly scolding and reprimanding Miles when he next came to the White House. Five days later Roosevelt made the reprimand official, effectively ending Miles career. The issue of when senior military officers can criticize the administration has been debated ever since. Roosevelt was also a war hero himself, and although the military was shocked by such “savage” treatment of a senior officer, the President had public opinion on his side. Every decade or so there is a military official who does not care for the administration’s policies and expresses himself publicly. President Truman’s firing to General Douglas Macarthur was the most dramatic case, but Truman was well aware of the Miles and TR precedent.

In Pakistan, the civilian governments were not in control of the army who would have their own polices, foreign and domestic. When the head of the Army assumed the Presidency in a coup, he approached the Prime Minister of India—the Pakistan traditional enemy—and assured him that unlike with the civilian governments, he could negotiate for the country. Ironically, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh disclosed this quotation after Pervez Musharraf was deposed and democracy and civilian government returned to Pakistan. However the Indian Prime Minister then complained that there was no one to negotiate with as the civilian elected prime minister could not speak for the army—still the major power in Pakistan.