Supreme Commander (45 page)

U.S. Navy, 21, 34, 257

U.S. Pacific Fleet, 35

“U.S. Policy Toward a Peace Settlement with Japan” (Kennan), 228

U.S. Senate, 274–75

Foreign Relations Committee, 40

Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program (Truman Committee), 7

U.S. Supreme Court, 201, 203, 204

U.S. War Contracts Board, 236

United States Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan
(SWNCC150/4/A, September 6, 1945), 20, 59–60, 89, 92, 146, 231–32, 238n

 

Vandenberg, Arthur, 40

Vasilevsky, Aleksandr, 165

Veale, F. J. P., 210

Veracruz, occupation of (1914), 4

Versailles Treaty (1919), 17, 254

Vietnam War, 205, 297

Vincent, John Carter, 115

Vining, Elizabeth Gray, 79, 87, 118, 161, 168

Vladivostok, Japanese attack on (1920), 100

Voice of the Crane (emperor's pronouncements), 23, 25, 180

Voltaire, 285

 

Wainwright, Jonathan, 34, 42, 201, 204

Wake Island meeting, 259–60, 290–91

Walsh, Edward, 235

Wang, Dr., 233n

war crimes, 60, 106, 139–40, 198

Hirohito and, 82, 132, 177, 206, 209–10

Ishii immunity and, 188–90, 192–93

Kido arrested for, 77

war crimes trials, 73, 75, 183, 188–90, 198–213, 221, 286.
See also
specific locations and trials

biological weapons and, 183, 188–96

USSR and, 195–96

War Department, U.S., 4, 19, 92, 178–79, 182, 190, 203, 227, 233–34, 245

War Examining Board, 11

Warner, Langdon, 110

Washington, George, 53, 54n, 69, 96, 99, 129, 157, 162n, 204, 278

Webb, Sir William, 198, 208

Wedemeyer, Albert, 236

Weed, Ethel, 148, 150–51

Weed's Girls, 148

Welles, Orson, 204

West Point (U.S. Military Academy at West Point), 4–6, 13–14, 42, 100, 281

whaling, 64

White, Theodore, 271–72

White, William Allen, 155

Whitney, Courtney, 11, 25, 31, 42, 97–99, 220n, 234–35, 284–85, 291, 293, 295

constitution and, 127–29, 131–38, 145, 147

MacArthur's relationship with 98–99, 159, 161

Wiley, Alexander, 275

Williams, Justin, 97, 176

Willoughby, Charles, 11, 16, 99, 117, 161, 166, 168, 185, 193, 196, 226, 246, 258, 284, 291, 295

Wolfe, James, 258

Women's and Minors' Bureau, 149–51.
See also
government, Japan

Women's Army Corps (WAC), 148, 150

Women's Information Officer, 150

women's rights, 20, 49, 79, 114, 121, 124, 126, 146–53, 219–20, 228, 284, 288

constitution and, 130–31

equal pay for equal work, 149, 152

marriage and, 147–48, 218

nondiscrimination, 152–53

property, inheritance and divorce and, 146, 151–53

U.S. vs. Japan and, 153

voting and, 141–42, 145, 148–49, 152

World Report
(later
U.S. News &World Report
), 239–40

World War I, 4, 6, 17, 65–66, 100, 183, 271, 281, 283, 286

World War II, 282.
See also
specific battles and locations

Allied fatalities at hands of Japanese in, 81

biological weapons and, 180–85

Japanese history of, 294–95

MacArthur heads forces in Far East, 5–6, 12–13, 18–19, 32–33

USSR and Pacific War, 18, 165

 

“X” article (Kennan), 225–27

 

Yamamoto, Isoroku, 182–83

Yamanashi, Kakunoshin, 119, 121

Yamashita, Tomoyuki, 18, 26, 199, 201–5, 208, 210, 286

Yamato
(Japanese battleship), 39

Yasukuni Shrine, 122, 295

Years of MacArthur, The
(James), 295

yellow fever, 179

Yokohama, 19, 21

bust of MacArthur in, 265

MacArthur arrives in, 30, 36–37

Yoshida, Shigeru, 132, 137, 142, 144–45, 157, 161, 176, 225, 236, 243, 251, 253, 256, 262, 265, 281, 289–90, 293

Yugoslavia, 205

 

zaibatsu
(economic monopolies), 60, 91, 96, 109, 121, 126, 146, 211, 230–42, 238n, 288, 292

hoarded goods scandal and, 239–40

original plan for, 235–36

Photographic Insert

MacArthur, the supreme commander, arriving in Japan, is greeted by his number-two man, General Robert Eichelberger. “Bob,” he says, “this is the payoff!”

 

MacArthur and his men, none wearing guns. “The most daring act of the entire war,” said Winston Churchill.

 

Everyone ready, waiting for the supreme commander to step forward and begin the surrender ceremony.

 

MacArthur
(far right)
watches Shigemitsu sign the surrender document for Japan.

 

At the end of the ceremony, there was a deafening roar as planes flew overhead. The surrender was now complete. A new era for Japan had begun.

 

MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito at their first meeting, the only photograph ever taken of the two men together. The Japanese newspapers suppressed the picture because it made the emperor look inferior. MacArthur ordered them to print it.

 

The Japanese people gathered every day for a fleeting glimpse of MacArthur leaving his office for lunch.

 

Heartfelt gratitude for MacArthur's handling of emergency relief.

 

Children—the future citizens of Japan—were a high priority for the occupation.

 

If Douglas MacArthur was to achieve his major objective of eliminating Japanese militarism, then he needed to help women achieve positions of influence and power. Second to the constitution, this was his most successful reform of the entire occupation.

 

MacArthur was so popular in Japan that the Japanese posted billboards, hoping he might become the U.S. president.

 

Two brilliant men who changed Japan forever: Courtney Whitney and Charles Kades. They directed the drafting of a new constitution for Japan while overcoming Japanese resistance and keeping their activities secret from Washington. Their handiwork survives today.