| Original caption: United States Chief of Staff of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, right, and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur, left, are seen in a car to Tokyo at Atsugi Air Field. United States Army General Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964), Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), meets United States Army General Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), Chief of Staff, at Atsugi Airfield. Eisenhower had been MacArthur’s Chief of Staff when he was Military Advisor to the Philippine Commonwealth. General MacArthur, who wrote that Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower was the best officer in the Army on his evaluations, earnestly requested that he stay when the junior officer requested a transfer to Washington. Nevertheless, Eisenhower left the Philippines in 1939. While the 2 men professionally respected each other, personally, they did not get along. Eisenhower, who had worked for MacArthur in the Philippines for 7 years, said he was a “man of no character” who had “spent a life of hate and envy.” MacArthur thought Eisenhower was sometimes a bore: Eisenhower, who by 1945 had never fought a battle on the front lines or risked his life as he had, was the typical “desk general.” Their personalities were polar opposites. Colonel Crawford P. Sams (April 1, 1902 – December 2, 1994), who knew both men, wrote, MacArthur was just not the kind of man to be informal around. He was introverted. In contrast, Eisenhower was the outgoing man; you could call him ‘Ike’…MacArthur was just a different kind of man…He would meet you in reception lines and greet you warmly, but he wasn’t 1 to slap you on the back and say, ‘Hi, Bill.’” More and more, MacArthur had dwelt darkly on his “enemies in Washington.” The man he considered his worst enemy, General George C. Marshall (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959), would soon become Truman’s Secretary of State. His former aide, Eisenhower, was the Army Chief of Staff, and he was sure that he disliked him. MacArthur was sure that Truman held a grudge because of all the talk that the General would run for President on the Republican ticket in 1948. Furthermore, MacArthur had recently undertaken a momentous decision that would not land well with the American public. The Emperor would be allowed to stay, provided he provided a symbol of continuity. MacArthur would separate Hirohito from the militarists, retain him as a constitutional monarch (but only as a figurehead), and utilize him to effect a spiritual transformation of the Japanese people. MacArthur made his decision official by notifying Eisenhower, the recently appointed Army Chief of Staff, that the Emperor was not responsible for the war. Thus, there was some tension between MacArthur and Eisenhower during their visit in May 1046. Eisenhower, once his junior, now technically outranked him as Chief of Staff, although it remained to be seen if MacArthur would take orders from Eisenhower. Eisenhower, and later Secretary of State Marshall, did not dare overrule MacArthur about the Emperor. Newspapers did not report the tension; instead, they focused on the 2 men’s greetings to each other, effectively producing news articles that contained no real content on the substance of their meeting. After 2 days of inspections of American military installations in Japan, Eisenhower returned to the United States. Photographer Charles P. Gorry (December 6, 1911 – September 17, 1976) covered the Pacific War. He met Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), visiting him as part of the Dixie Mission to Yan’an. On November 26, 1944, he survived 2 suicide planes that hit the carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11); the United States Navy decorated him for his firefighting efforts. He scaled Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in February 1945 and was on the front lines of Okinawa for 60 days. Gorry photographed Imperial Japanese Army General Hideki Tojo (December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) minutes after his attempted suicide and then photographed his resuscitation. He died of a heart attack after a long illness. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0935.jpg |
| Image Size | 628.85 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2411 x 1910 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 10, 1946 |
| Location | |
| City | Atsugi |
| State or Province | Kanagawa |
| Country | Japan |
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| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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