American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964 by William Manchester

(New York: Dell, 1978), 846

You could fill pages with quotes, notes, and thoughts from this book. Since I listened to it my notes are sparse, but some are below:

"He was always a tremendous pacer" (179)
Chapter 4 (part 10): quote about democracy
Chapter 6: importance of his maps (in Australia)
Chopped trucks in half to fit them in C-47s
His favorite book was Crime and Punishment
Awful to think how many died pointlessly in this one forgotten campaign: "At that moment two U.S. invasion convoys were at sea. MacArthur, aboard the cruiser Nashville, was bound for Morotai, the northeasternmost island of the Moluccas, which would be needed to launch any blow at the Philippines. The other convoy was carrying the 1st Marine Division to the Palaus. Nimitz decided that it was too late to recall the Palau force, and 9,171 Americans fell there, tragically and pointlessly." (431)
Beg of 10: didn’t believe in limited war; if you go to war you should win
Addressing congress: he was incautious, which was key to both his successes and his failures
“I will not take by sacrifice what I can achieve by strategy.”
“A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys.”
“councils of war breed timidity and defeatism.”