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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional Gold Medal Recipient
General Douglas MacArthur
There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. Douglas MacArthur
b. Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, 26 January 1880
d. Washington, D.C., 5 April 1964
Tuesday, 9 October 1962 JOINT RESOLUTION
Authorizing the issuance of a gold medal to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in recognition of the gallant service rendered by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to his country, the President of the United States is authorized to award to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, in the name of Congress, an appropriate gold medal. For such purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to cause to be struck a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to coin and furnish to the MacArthur Memorial Foundation not more than five hundred thousand copies in bronze of such medal, of such size or sizes as shall be determined by the Secretary in consultation with the MacArthur Memorial Foundation. The medals shall be made and delivered at such times as may be required by the MacArthur Memorial Foundation in quantities of not less than two thousand. The medals shall be considered to be national medals within the meaning of section 3551 of the Revised Statutes. SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Treasury shall cause such gold medals and such bronze medals to be struck and furnished at not less than the estimated cost of manufacture, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses; and security satisfactory to the Director of the Mint shall be furnished to indemnify the United States for the full payment of such cost. 76 Stat. 760
Biography
January 26, 1880 - April 5, 1964
Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during the initial landings at Leyte in the Pacific, in October, 1944.
Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 26 January 1880; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1903 was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers and served in the Philippines, 1903-1904 was promoted to first lieutenant, April 1904 was an engineer officer and aide to the commander of the Pacific Division, 1904-1906 served with the 2d Engineer Battalion, attended the Engineer School and was aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906-1908 was troop commander, adjutant, and was Army Service Schools instructor at Fort Leavenworth, 1908-1912 was promoted to captain, February 1911 was on the General Staff, 1913-1917 took part in the Vera Cruz Expedition was promoted to major, December 1915, and colonel, August 1917 was chief of staff of the 42d Division in France, 1917-1918 was promoted to brigadier general in the National Army, June 1918, took part in Marne operations and commanded the 84th Infantry Brigade in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives commanded the 42d Division in the Sedan offensive, 1918 served with the Army of Occupation, 1918-1919 was superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1919-1922 became a brigadier general in the Regular Army, January, 1920 married Louise Cromwell Brooks, 1922 (divorced 1929) was promoted to major general, January 1925 successively commanded the District of Manila, 1922-1923, the Fourth and Third Corps Areas, 1925-1928, and the Ninth Corps Area, 1930 was promoted to temporary general, November 1930 was chief of staff of the United States Army, 21 November 1930-1 October 1935; stressed Army deficiencies in personnel and materiel, presided over development of plans for industrial mobilization and manpower procurement, established an Air Force headquarters, administered Army control over the Civilian Conservation Corps, and supervised eviction of "bonus marchers" from Washington resumed his permanent rank of major general and became military adviser to the government of the Philippines, 1935-1941 married Jean Marie Faircloth, 1937 retired from active service, December 1937 but continued as adviser to the Philippine government was recalled to active duty as lieutenant general and named commander, United States Army Forces in the Far East, July 1941 was promoted to temporary general, December 1941 led American forces in Pacific campaigns as Supreme Allied Commander, 1941-1945 was promoted to temporary General of the Army, December 1944 received the
Medal of Honor for Philippine defense preparations and operations was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, Japan, 1945 rank as General of the Army made permanent, April 1946 was designated commander in chief Far East Command 1947 upon the
North Korean invasion of South Korea was designated commander, United Nations Command in the Far East, July, 1950 was relieved of his command by President Truman, April 1951 died in Washington, D.C., on 5 April 1964.
From: COMMANDING GENERALS AND CHIEFS OF STAFF, 1775-1982, William Gardner Bell, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1983
Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Pacific Theater during formal surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay.
If the historian of the future should deem my service worthy of some slight reference, it would be my hope that he mention me not as a commander engaged in campaigns and battles, even though victorious to American arms, but rather as that one whose sacred duty it became, once the guns were silenced, to carry to the land of our vanquished foe the solace and hope and faith of Christian morals. Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war. MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880 near Little Rock, Arkansas. MacArthur, like his father, was a recipient of the Congressional
Medal of Honor. Before his career was complete, he had become the most decorated man in the history of the Armed Forces of the United States.
He was commissioned as an Officer in the United States Army on the plains of the West Point Military Academy in 1903. The Academy's Motto "Duty, Honor, Country" guided his distinguished military career. During his military service, he commanded a division in World War I; was Superintendent of the Military Academy; became Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; Military Advisor to the Commonwealth of the Philippines; Army Commander of the Far East; Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific; and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers near the end of World War II.
Before the Japanese were invited to sign the Instrument of Surrender, MacArthur gave a brief address in which he remarked:
"We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers -- to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies, have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for our discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all our people unreservedly to faithful compliance with the obligation they are here formally to assume.
It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past -- a world founded upon faith and understanding -- a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish -- for freedom, tolerance and justice.
The terms and conditions upon which the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Forces is here to be given and accepted are contained in the Instrument of Surrender now before you."
"As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, I announce it my firm purpose, in the tradition of the countries I represent, to proceed in the discharge of my responsibilities with justice and tolerance, while taking all necessary dispositions to insure that the terms of surrender are fully, promptly and faithfully complied with."
After the two official Japanese representatives, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu, signed both copies of the Instrument of Surrender. MacArthur signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as the U. S. Representative signed. General Hsu Yung-Ch'ang signed for the Republic of China, Admiral Sir Bruce A. Fraser for the United Kingdom, Lt. General Kuzma Derevyanko for the Soviet Union, General Sir Thomas Blamey for the Commonwealth of Australia, Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave for Canada, General Jacques Le Clerc for the Provisional Government of the French Republic, Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Air Vice Marshal Leonard M. Isitt for the Dominion of New Zealand.
After all the representative had finished signing, MacArthur stated:
"Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always. These proceedings are closed"
After the ceremony was completed, MacArthur broadcasted the following message to the American people:
"Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death -- the seas bear only commerce men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace. The holy mission has been completed. And in reporting this to you, the people, I speak for the thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and the beaches and in the deep waters of the Pacific which marked the way. I speak for the unnamed brave millions homeward bound to take up the challenge of that future which they did so much to salvage from the brink of disaster.
As I look back on the long, tortuous trail from those grim days of Bataan and Corregidor, when an entire world lived in fear, when democracy was on the defensive everywhere, when modern civilization trembled in the balance, I tank a merciful God that He has given us the faith, the courage and the power from which to mold victory. We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war.
A new era is upon us. Even the lesson of victory itself brings with it profound concern, both for our future security and the survival of civilization. The destructiveness of the war potential, through progressive advances in scientific discovery, has in fact now reached a point which revises the traditional concepts of war.
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years, It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
We stand in Tokyo today reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world. But alas the knowledge thereby gained of western science was forged into an instrument of oppression and human enslavement. Freedom of expression, freedom of action, even freedom of thought were denied through appeal to superstition, and through the application of force. We are committed by the Potsdam Declaration of principles to see that the Japanese people are liberated from this condition of slavery. It is my purpose to implement this commitment just as rapidly as the armed forces are demobilized and other essential steps taken to neutralize the war potential.
The energy of the Japanese race, if properly directed, will enable expansion vertically rather than horizontally. If the talents of the race are turned into constructive channels, the county can lift itself from its present deplorable state into a position of dignity.
To the Pacific basin has come the vista of a new emancipated world. Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march. Today, in Asia as well as in Europe, unshackled peoples are tasting the full sweetness of liberty, the relief from fear.
In the Philippines, America has evolved a model for this new free world of Asia. In the Philippines, America has demonstrated that peoples of the East and peoples of the West may walk side by side in mutual respect and with mutual benefit. The history of our sovereignty there has now the full confidence of the East.
And so, my fellow countrymen, today I report to you that your sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully with the calm, deliberated determined fighting spirit of the American soldier, based upon a tradition of historical truth as against the fanaticism of an enemy supported only by mythological fiction. Their spiritual strength and power has brought us through to victory. They are homeward bound -- take care of them."
Famous Quote From General Douglas MacArthur and Medal of Honor
General Douglas MacArthur's Recall
General Douglas MacArthur's Speech Duty, Honor, Country
General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Address to Congress April 19, 1951
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