Description:

(1880 - 1964) American general and Allied Supreme Commander in the Pacific in World War II, accepted the surrender of Japan and was later dismissed by Truman for advocating an invasion of China. Excellent privately-printed copy of MacArthur's address to Congress on April 19, 1951, 14pp. large 4to., given just one week after his removal from command in Korea, covering MacArthur's stance on communism and the Korean War in his typically bombastic style. The address, notably reads, in part: 'I address you with neither rancor nor bitterness in the fading twilight of my life, with but one purpose in mind: to serve my country...The Communist threat is a global one...You cannot appease or otherwise surrender to Communism in Asia without...undermining our efforts to halt its advance in Europe...the Chinese people have thus become militarized in their concepts and their ideals...our victory [in Korea] was complete...when Red China intervened...This created a new war and an entirely new situation...While no man in his right mind would advocate sending our ground troops into continental China, and such was never given thought, the new situation did urgently demand a drastic revision of strategic planning...It has been said that I was a warmonger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting...But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative...war's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war indeed, there can be no substitute for victory...' Much more military content. MacArthur poignantly concludes: '...I am closing my fifty-two years of military service...I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barracks ballads...which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die; they just fade away. And like the old soldier...I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty...' MacArthur signs on the front cover, beneath the printed exhortation: 'OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE'. Very fine condition.

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May 22, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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