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WORK TITLE: Fit for the Presidency?
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Morris, Mike
BIRTHDATE:
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CITY: New York
STATE: NY
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2009035411
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Morris, Seymour
Found in: American history revised, c2009: CIP t.p. (Seymour Morris)
Supreme commander, 2014: t.p. (Seymour Morris Jr.) jacket
flap (former head of corporate communications for the
world's largest management consulting firm; resident of
New York City; A.B. and M.B.A. from Harvard)
================================================================================
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Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Harvard University, A.B., M.B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Former political pollster, head of corporate communications, and international entrepreneur.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Seymour Morris is a former political pollster, head of corporate communications, and international entrepreneur. Earning both an undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, Morris is also a historian and writer, author of American History Revised: 200 Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks, Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan, and Fit for the Presidency? Winners, Losers, What-ifs, and Also-rans.
American History Revised
With his 2010 work, American History Revised, Morris goes against the grain of other works debunking bits of inaccurate American history. Instead, he examines instances of topics and subjects left out of the history books. Morris divides the book into ten thematic chapters and offers, as the subtitle implies, two hundred little-known facts about American history. Among such instances is the fact that Amerigo Vespucci was credited with discovering America simply because of his tireless promotion; two generals who ended the Civil War were not Grant and Lee; a private financier saved the United States from bankruptcy on three separate occasions; actress Hedy Lamarr was the inventor of an anti-jamming system used during World War II; and the Ford motor company was approached in the 1950s by two Japanese companies, Toyota and Nissan, looking for a joint venture and were rebuffed as producers of “tin cars.”
Reviewing American History Revised in Booklist, David Pitt noted: “Whether he’s trading in documented facts or unsupported opinions, Morris tells a compelling story.” ETC.: A Review of General Semantics contributor Martin H. Levinson also had praise, commenting: “What we’ve been taught about American history may not have been particularly accurate or terribly comprehensive. To help to remedy that defect, I recommend reading this book.” Huffington Post website writer Fern Siegel similarly felt that Morris’s book is “eye-opening, interesting and lively. If schools put it on the curriculum, kids would pay more attention.” Siegel added: “Rather than a dry recitation in chronological order, it’s an extraordinary compendium of intriguing facts. … [American History Revised] should be required reading for anyone in public office, a potent reminder that real history, not the tabloid fodder sprayed across the nightly news, is often made far from the limelight.” Likewise, online Curled Up with a Good Book critic Douglas R. Cobb concluded: “American History Revised will make you rethink American history. … If you’re a history buff or just want to learn more about the history of America and have a few chuckles doing so, this book is a definite must-read.”
Supreme Commander
Seymour’s 2014 study, Supreme Commander, is an “unabashedly admiring reappraisal of Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) as supreme protector of a great fallen nation at the close of World War II,” according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. The author examines MacArthur’s achievements during the five-year occupation of Japan, from his decision to come unarmed to the surrender ceremony, to helping the nation rebuild economically and politically. He shows that MacArthur was a student of history, taking lessons from General Ulysses Grant’s fair treatment of General Robert E. Lee following the cessation of hostilities in the American Civil War. MacArthur helped to feed the Japanese, repatriate Japanese troops, neutralize the military, and rewrite the country’s constitution with numerous rights included for women.
The Kirkus Reviews critic termed Supreme Commander a “gung-ho, breezily entertaining study for lay readers.” Writing in Library Journal, Ed Goedeken similarly called it a “well-crafted history of an underappreciated aspect of MacArthur’s career.” New York Times Online contributor Lynne Olson also had praise, terming this a “fascinating” story, and adding: “MacArthur was one of the most decorated generals in American history. But in the end he turned out to be far better at making peace than waging war.” Similarly, Southeast Review of Asian Studies writer Daniel A. Metraux concluded: “Morris’ research and writing are excellent. His work is one of the most informative and cohesive general studies of the occupation. Morris’ Supreme Commander is an excellent study that would enhance any college course on the history of modern Japan or U.S.-Japanese relations.”
Fit for the Presidency?
In his 2017 work, Fit for the Presidency?, Morris applies the approach of an executive recruiter to fifteen candidates and potential candidates for the U.S. presidency between 1789 and 1980. He looks at their references and résumés and attempts to determine their fitness for the job of president. Qualifications, campaign promises, and real accomplishments all come into the mix in this study of men from George Washington to Ronald Reagan, with lesser-known names such as William McAdoo and DeWitt Clinton added to the list of hopefuls. For Morris, prior experience plays an important part, but it is not always determining, as he demonstrates in the positive case of Abraham Lincoln, who, with little experience, took the nation through the Civil War, and in the negative case of the well-experienced Herbert Hoover and his failures at the beginning of the Great Depression.
“Morris ultimately lets the reader decide what constitutes a great presidential candidate,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer of Fit for the Presidency?. A Kirkus Reviews critic had praise the work, terming it a “timely, amusing, and occasionally eye-opening exercise.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 15, 2010, David Pitt, review of American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks, p. 15.
ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, January, 2011, Martin H. Levinson, review of America History Revised, p. 113.
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2014, review of Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan; October 15, 2016, review of Fit for the Presidency? Winners, Losers, What-ifs, and Also-rans.
Library Journal, March 15, 2014, Ed Goedeken, review of Supreme Commander, p. 126.
Publishers Weekly, October 24, 2016, review of Fit for the Presidency?, p. 69.
Southeast Review of Asian Studies, January 1, 2014, Daniel A. Metraux, review of Supreme Commander, pp. 190-192.
ONLINE
Curled Up with a Good Book, http://www.curledup.com/ (July 18, 2017), Douglas R. Cobb, review of American History Revised.
Harpercollins Website, https://www.harpercollins.com/ (June 20, 2017), “Seymour Morris.”
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (July 3, 2010), Fern Siegel, review of American History Revised.
New York Times Online, https://www.nytimes.com (April 25, 2014), Lynne Olson, review of Supreme Commander.
UNL Press – Potomac Books, http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/ (June 20, 2017), “Seymour Morris.”*
Fit for the Presidency?
Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans
Seymour Morris Jr.
400 pages
30 illustrations
Hardcover
January 2017
978-1-61234-850-6
$32.95
Add to Cart
About the Book
Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy: a presidential election campaign filled with endless speeches, debates, handshakes, and passion.
But what about the candidates themselves?
In Fit for the Presidency? Seymour Morris Jr. applies an executive recruiter’s approach to fifteen presidential prospects from 1789 to 1980, analyzing their résumés and references to determine their fitness for the job. Were they qualified? How real were their actual accomplishments? Could they be trusted, or were their campaign promises unrealistic?
The result is a fresh and original look at a host of contenders from George Washington to William McAdoo, from DeWitt Clinton to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the fluff of presidential campaigns, replaced by broad perspective and new insights on candidates seeking the nation’s highest office.
Author Bio
Seymour Morris Jr. is a former political pollster, head of corporate communications, and international entrepreneur. He is the author of American History Revised: 200 Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks and Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan.
Seymour Morris Jr. is the author of American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks. He is also an international business entrepreneur and the former head of corporate communications for the world's largest management consulting firm. A resident of New York City, he holds an A.B. and M.B.A. from Harvard University.
QUOTE:
Morris ultimately lets the reader decide what constitutes a great presidential candidate.
Fit for the Presidency? Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans
263.43 (Oct. 24, 2016): p69.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Fit for the Presidency? Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans
Seymour Morris Jr. Potomac, $32.95 (462) ISBN 978-1-61234-850-6
Asking what the best qualifications are for becoming a U.S. president, Morris (American History Revised) attempts to quantify these qualities by analyzing the resumes of 15 actual and would-be office-holders. Going from George Washington to Ronald Reagan, he takes an executive recruiter's approach to scrutinizing his subjects' experience and character. Morris notes that prior experience plays a major part in determining future success, but the ability to function in a crisis accounts for even more. The incredible success of political lightweight Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and the failure of the seasoned Herbert Hoover at the onset of the Great Depression epitomize this notion. In laying out the histories of largely forgotten political figures such as DeWitt Clinton and Wendell Willkie, as well as those of the more famous Gen. George Marshall, Barry Goldwater, and Bobby Kennedy, and examining their pitfalls and triumphs, Morris ultimately lets the reader decide what constitutes a great presidential candidate. Given his exceptionally extensive and open-minded analysis, it is a shame that he did not include resumes for the current candidates running for office in this year's election. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Fit for the Presidency? Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans." Publishers Weekly, 24 Oct. 2016, p. 69. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468771850&it=r&asid=88d9df193fa21ea0ece976979ab9704e. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468771850
QUOTE:
timely, amusing, and occasionally eye-opening exercise
Morris Jr., Seymour: FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY?
(Oct. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Morris Jr., Seymour FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY? Potomac Books (Adult Nonfiction) $32.95 1, 1 ISBN: 978-1-61234-850-6
On the theory that experience is the best predictor of future performance, Morris (Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumph in Japan, 2014, etc.) examines and evaluates, as any hiring committee might, the resumes of 15 men, all past applicants for the job of president.To judge the fitness for the Oval Office of figures as towering as Washington and Lincoln, as dubious as William Randolph Hearst, and as little remembered as William Henry Harrison, the author uses four criteria: "accomplishments," "intangibles," "judgment," and "overall" (a summary of all the information known about the candidate). Notwithstanding the intentional diversity of his list, a couple "candidates" appear out of place: the otherwise estimable Gen. George C. Marshall was never seriously considered for Franklin Roosevelt's vice president, and Jefferson Davis was elected president, yes, but of the Confederacy. Still, the disagreements readers will have with Morris, his methodology, and his assessments are part of the fun of any exercise like this. As he rates the aspirants, the author turns up interesting little nuggets about each: why Jefferson in 1826 thought DeWitt Clinton was the greatest living American and why Lincoln, too, sought to emulate the father of the Erie Canal; how Ronald Reagan devised his own version of shorthand to deliver his seemingly effortless speeches; why Robert Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were perhaps too hot for the presidency, Herbert Hoover and Samuel Tilden, too cold; how Henry Wallace failed to match self-discipline with his prodigious intellect; why Maine's Bowdoin College awarded an honorary degree to Jefferson Davis two years before the Civil War; how Wendell Willkie, without ever holding public office, captured the Republican nomination; why the Democrats twice denied their top honor to William McAdoo, the most accomplished treasury secretary since Hamilton. Why wisdom trumps experience, judgment beats sheer hard work, broad intelligence bests narrow brilliance--these considerations, too, figure into Morris' appraisals. A timely, amusing, and occasionally eye-opening exercise.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Morris Jr., Seymour: FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466329258&it=r&asid=21a9b963a49a16535eda043b20780908. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466329258
Seymour Morris Jr.: FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY?
(Oct. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Seymour Morris Jr. FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY? Potomac Books (Adult Nonfiction) 32.95 ISBN: 978-1-61234-850-6
On the theory that experience is the best predictor of future performance, Morris (Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan, 2014, etc.) examines and evaluates, as any hiring committee might, the resumes of 15 men, all past applicants for the job of president.To judge the fitness for the Oval Office of figures as towering as Washington and Lincoln, as dubious as William Randolph Hearst, and as little remembered as William Henry Harrison, the author uses four criteria: “accomplishments,” “intangibles,” “judgment,” and “overall” (a summary of all the information known about the candidate). Notwithstanding the intentional diversity of his list, a couple “candidates” appear out of place: the otherwise estimable Gen. George C. Marshall was never seriously considered for Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, and Jefferson Davis was elected president, yes, but of the Confederacy. Still, the disagreements readers will have with Morris, his methodology, and his assessments are part of the fun of any exercise like this. As he rates the aspirants, the author turns up interesting little nuggets about each: why Jefferson in 1826 thought DeWitt Clinton was the greatest living American and why Lincoln, too, sought to emulate the father of the Erie Canal; how Ronald Reagan devised his own version of shorthand to deliver his seemingly effortless speeches; why Robert Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were perhaps too hot for the presidency, Herbert Hoover and Samuel Tilden, too cold; how Henry Wallace failed to match self-discipline with his prodigious intellect; why Maine’s Bowdoin College awarded an honorary degree to Jefferson Davis two years before the Civil War; how Wendell Willkie, without ever holding public office, captured the Republican nomination; why the Democrats twice denied their top honor to William McAdoo, the most accomplished treasury secretary since Hamilton. Why wisdom trumps experience, judgment beats sheer hard work, broad intelligence bests narrow brilliance—these considerations, too, figure into Morris’ appraisals. A timely, amusing, and occasionally eye-opening exercise.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Seymour Morris Jr.: FIT FOR THE PRESIDENCY?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466551508&it=r&asid=f9cc487562e47ac22d38868865fef9f3. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466551508
QUOTE:
unabashedly admiring reappraisal of Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) as supreme protector of a great fallen nation at the close of World War II
gung-ho, breezily entertaining study for lay readers.
Morris Jr., Seymour: SUPREME COMMANDER
(Mar. 1, 2014):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Morris Jr., Seymour SUPREME COMMANDER Harper/HarperCollins (Adult Nonfiction) $26.99 4, 15 ISBN: 978-0-06-228793-9
An unabashedly admiring reappraisal of Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) as supreme protector of a great fallen nation at the close of World War II. Publishing around the same time as Mark Perry's The Most Dangerous Man in America (2014), the pursuit of the many lives of the five-star general continues in this enthusiastic breakdown of MacArthur's wildly successful five-year occupation of defeated Japan, a model to be followed and studied. Author and entrepreneur Morris (American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts that Never Made It into the Textbooks, 2010) believes the record regarding MacArthur's administrative coup in helping Japan recover needs elucidation, from his initial decision to arrive in Japan unarmed for the surrender ceremony of Sept. 2, 1945, to his insistence on sparing Emperor Hirohito to his radical push for emancipating Japanese women. Above all, MacArthur was a keen student of history and modeled his magnanimity toward the vanquished Japanese on Gen. Ulysses Grant's honorable treatment of Gen. Robert E. Lee, among other examples, hoping to gain trust in his new charges rather than instill fear and provoke alarm from reactionary elements. Hence his highly controversial decision to keep the emperor in power, although he was stripped of his godlike status: MacArthur recognized that the emperor could help "bring about a spiritual transformation of the Japanese people." Moving swiftly as supreme commander on the orders of President Harry S. Truman yet with powers so vast that he was able to operate over the heads of the War Department, the general brought food to the starving people, neutralized the Japanese military, repatriated millions of Japanese troops and civilians, instituted land reform, kept the Russians at bay and implemented the "Nuremberg of the East" trials. Most astonishing was how MacArthur's wily team managed to rewrite the Japanese Constitution-with codification of more sweeping rights for women than in any other country except Russia. A gung-ho, breezily entertaining study for lay readers.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Morris Jr., Seymour: SUPREME COMMANDER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2014. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA359847944&it=r&asid=760a7ad8fab93963ae60a1b9f2e3713f. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A359847944
QUOTE:
whether he's trading in documented facts or unsupported opinions, Morris tells a compelling story.
American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks
David Pitt
106.14 (Mar. 15, 2010): p15.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks.
By Seymour Morris.
Apr. 2010. 432p. Broadway, paper, $18.99 (9780307587602). 973.
In 1995's Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Leowen surveyed several popular American history textbooks and exposed their errors and falsehoods. Consider Morris' book its sequel, or perhaps its progeny. Morris discusses topics that were left out of the history books: the way Amerigo Vespucci wound up being credited as the discoverer of America, for example (he was a tireless self-promoter), or the revolutionary anti-jamming communications system invented during WWII by Hedy Lamarr, the famous Hollywood actress. This is a deeply fascinating book, and one that should appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, from students to history buffs to trivia addicts. Some of Morris' facts seem more like personal opinions, as when he calls General MacArthur's failure to get court-martialed after Pearl Harbor (for ignoring orders to get his planes in the air) "the greatest government cover-up of all." But whether he's trading in documented facts or unsupported opinions, Morris tells a compelling story.--David Pitt
Pitt, David
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Pitt, David. "American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2010, p. 15+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA222314342&it=r&asid=2654030ec5e22ec4e83116ac9608806c. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A222314342
QUOTE:
what we've been taught about American history may not have been particularly accurate or terribly comprehensive. To help to remedy that defect, I recommend reading this book.
America History Revised
Martin H. Levinson
68.1 (Jan. 2011): p113.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Institute of General Semantics
http://www.generalsemantics.org
Seymour Morris, Jr. America History Revised. New York: Broadway Books, 2010.
In this spirited re-examination of US history, Seymour Morris Jr. rummages into America's past and turns up hundreds of astonishing facts that never made it into the textbooks or the social studies lectures that most of us were exposed to in school. The book also highlights how little known people and events have played surprisingly significant roles in the great America narrative. To wit:
* In the 1950s, two Japanese companies approached Ford, pleading for a joint venture. Ford declined their offers, calling them makers of "tin cars." The two companies were Nissan and Toyota.
* Three times, a private financier saved the United States from bankruptcy.
* The two generals who ended the Civil War weren't Grant and Lee.
* Eleanor Roosevelt and most women's groups opposed the Equal Rights Amendment forbidding gender discrimination.
* The victors in World War II imposed tougher peace terms than did those in World War I.
Morris notes that we tend to look at the past from present perspectives, but the past, after a generation or more, is far different. For example, when Alice Paul of the newly formed National Women's Rights Party proposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1920, prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, she elicited strong opposition from many groups including the League of Women Voters. Women's groups saw the ERA as a threat to their cherished "protective labor laws" that limited excessive hours and contained special protections for women. ERA supporters included thousands of men, employers, and members of the political right who were actually open to competition from smart women in the marketplace.
George Santayana said the famous words, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But what we remember from the past is what we've been taught and, as Morris points out, what we've been taught about American history may not have been particularly accurate or terribly comprehensive. To help to remedy that defect, I recommend reading this book.
MARTIN H. LEVINSON, PHD
Levinson, Martin H.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Levinson, Martin H. "America History Revised." ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 68, no. 1, 2011, p. 113. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA254190853&it=r&asid=3ac6344b4979d9f4b29cf1c8637369c0. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A254190853
QUOTE
well-crafted history of an underappreciated aspect of MacArthur's career.
MacArthur
Ed Goedeken
139.5 (Mar. 15, 2014): p126.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Morris, Seymour, Jr. Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumpth in Japan. Harper. Apr. 2014. 368p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9760062287939. $26.99; ebk. ISBN 9780062287953. HiST
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) continues to intrigue historians. While Mark Perry (see review below) traces MacArthur's career from 1932 through World War II, Morris (American History Revised), a businessman-turned-historian, looks extensively at secondary sources to examine the general's tenure as supreme commander for the allied powers in Japan from 1945 to 1951. Morris accessibly shows how MacArthur managed to implement a number of reforms in postwar Japan, including a new constitution, land reform, and giving women the right to vote, while at the same time encouraging Japan to disarm peacefully and formally renounce any future war plans. By keeping in place the highly respected Emperor Hirohito, he was able to effect a relatively smooth transition to peacetime, creating an economic environment that would make Japan a powerful force by the end of the century. Morris shows that while MacArthur has been rightfully honored for his leadership of American forces in the Pacific during World War II, his performance in leading Japan from war to peace should be considered one of his finest accomplishments and one from which we could have learned more.
VERDICT A well-crafted history of an underappreciated aspect of MacArthur's career. Recommended for students of the postwar era.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Perry, Mark. The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur. Basic: Perseus. Apr. 2014. 384p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780465013289. $29.99. HIST
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Douglas MacArthur loomed over the America of World War II and the Korean War. Despite much existing scholarship (e.g., D. Clayton James's The Years of MacArthur and Geoffrey Perret's Old Soldiers Never Die), there is room for foreign affairs analyst Perry's (Partners in Command) focused study of MacArthur's career from the early 1930s through World War II. Perry explores in particular the complicated relationship between President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and the man he considered a potential presidential opponent. Perry provides illuminating sketches of many of the war's major players, both in Washington, DC, and in the Pacific Theater, including Army Chief of Staff George Marshall, MacArthur's superior in Washington; and Admiral Chester Nimitz, who led the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. Perry recounts MacArthur's loss and gain of the Philippines, as well as many of the other battles that he waged in the South Pacific during 1942 to 1945 as commander in chief of the army in the Pacific. The book ends with the conclusion of the war with Japan in September 1945. VERDICT While much has been written on the general topic, Perry is strong on discussing MacArthur's relationship with FDR as well as his fellow officers in the Pacific. A gripping read, this book will be valuable to the novice and specialist alike and is recommended for all collections.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Goedeken, Ed^Goedeken, Ed
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Goedeken, Ed. "MacArthur." Library Journal, 15 Mar. 2014, p. 126. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA361241144&it=r&asid=4d424758cc449807aa462b76ecfabccb. Accessed 10 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A361241144
QUOTE:
Morris’ research and writing are excellent. His work is one of the
most informative and cohesive general studies of the occupation.
Morris’ Supreme Commander is an excellent study that
would enhance any college course on the history of modern Japan or
U.S.-Japanese relations.
METRAUX, DANIEL A. Southeast Review of Asian Studies. 2014, January 1, Vol. 36, p190-192. 3p.
Seymour Morris, Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in
Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. 368 pages.
Seymour Morris argues that the huge success of the allied occupation of
Japan was primarily due to the enlightened and powerful leadership of
one man, General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964). There is
considerable evidence to support this assertion. Although he considered
himself a conservative Republican, MacArthur commissioned a Japanese
Constitution far more liberal in its content than the American
Constitution, fostered the growth of labor unions, provided basic rights
for women, engineered a major land reform, and did much more to
encourage the growth of a peaceful and democratic Japan. There can be
no doubt that MacArthur, the supreme commander of the Allied Powers,
was the driving force behind the occupation.
Morris portrays MacArthur as a highly intelligent man and brilliant
manager who was always able to see the “big picture,” who came with a
clear set of objectives, and who achieved virtually everything that he
Book Reviews 191
planned to accomplish. MacArthur saw the need to bring about major
reforms across the spectrum of Japanese society. He argued that Japan
must not revert to its prewar social structure, which greatly restricted
the rights and potential of women, impoverished farmers, and greatly
exploited workers. Japan had been ruled by a wealthy and powerful
group of oligarchs who controlled both business and the government.
MacArthur’s initiatives gave women the vote, the right to marry whom
they pleased, and to own and manage their own property. Labor unions
gave workers a much stronger voice and land reform created a large class
of middle-class property owners. Perhaps most importantly,
MacArthur’s Article Nine in the Constitution forced Japan to renounce
war and forbade the creation of a military that could invade other lands.
One of MacArthur’s key decisions was to support the retention of
the emperor. Many leaders in the West and the rest of Asia wanted to try
Emperor Hirohito 裕仁 (1901–89) as a war criminal, but MacArthur
realized that keeping the emperor on the throne would enhance social
stability. MacArthur met often with Hirohito, who became a major
spokesman in support of MacArthur’s objectives.
Morris claims that MacArthur played a key role in keeping the
Russians out of the occupation while choking the growth of the
Communist Party in Japan. When a reporter asked Japanese Prime
Minister Yoshida Shigeru 吉田茂 (1878–1967) what he felt MacArthur’s
greatest triumph had been, he responded that MacArthur’s resistance to
Soviet efforts to occupy part of Japan and his suppression of the
communists in Japan in 1946 were critical to Japan’s revival after the
War.
Morris’ research and writing are excellent. His work is one of the
most informative and cohesive general studies of the occupation. The
inevitable flaws are few. Morris mentions land reform only in passing,
though many scholars argue that it was MacArthur’s crowning
achievement as supreme commander of the Allied Powers. And by
placing so much emphasis on MacArthur’s role Morris ignores both the
huge contributions of other members of the occupation leadership and
the willingness of so many Japanese to cooperate with the American
reformers. If the Japanese had refused to cooperate, the occupation
would have failed. But Morris correctly emphasizes MacArthur’s
insistence that the reform process had to start early and proceed quickly
and aggressively because the Japanese would soon grow restless and
demand an end to the occupation.
All in all, Morris’ Supreme Commander is an excellent study that
would enhance any college course on the history of modern Japan or
U.S.-Japanese relations.
QUOTE:
story he tells is a fascinating one.
MacArthur was one of the most decorated generals in American history. But in the end he turned out to be far better at making peace than waging war.
Retreat and Advance
‘Supreme Commander’ and ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’
By LYNNE OLSONAPRIL 25, 2014
Continue reading the main story
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On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally ended World War II by surrendering to the Allies aboard the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. As a reminder of Japan’s brutality to captured Allied soldiers, Gen. Douglas MacArthur placed two skeletal survivors of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps — United States Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, whose troops had endured the infamous Bataan Death March, and British Gen. Arthur Percival, who surrendered Singapore — in the Japanese delegation’s direct line of sight.
When MacArthur, who had been named to head the Allied occupation of Japan, stepped to the microphone to outline the terms of defeat, the Japanese braced for the worst. But instead of announcing draconian measures for the vanquished enemy, MacArthur rhapsodized about creating a “better world” for Japan, marked by “freedom, tolerance and justice.” In “Supreme Commander,” which details MacArthur’s remarkable tenure as Japanese overlord, Seymour Morris Jr. writes: “He set a standard for moral conduct toward an enemy who in war had shown hardly any honor at all.”
Over the next five years, the flamboyant MacArthur, a darling of conservative Republicans back home, would introduce a flood of liberal reforms aimed at transforming a feudal, militaristic country with no tradition of individual liberties into a bastion of democracy. Years later, the Asia scholar Edwin O. Reischauer, who served as American ambassador to Tokyo in the 1960s, would call MacArthur “the most radical, one might say even socialistic, leader the United States ever produced, and also one of the most successful.”
Yet while MacArthur’s work in Japan was arguably the greatest achievement of his career, it has been overshadowed by the wartime controversies that preceded and followed it. In “The Most Dangerous Man in America,” an account of MacArthur’s conduct of the Army’s war in the Pacific, the military and foreign policy historian Mark Perry provides a well-written, insightful portrait of a commander whose occasional military genius vied with an overweening ego that alienated his superiors in Washington and led to his eventual downfall.
MacArthur’s war began in humiliation on the afternoon of Dec. 8, 1941. As the Army commander in the Far East, he learned early that morning of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Washington ordered the small number of American warplanes under his command to be dispersed, but when Japanese aircraft struck the Philippines nine hours later, they found the planes neatly lined up on the ground. Most were destroyed where they sat. Stunned by the news of Pearl Harbor, MacArthur and his staff, Perry observes, had been “mentally unprepared for war.”
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Under orders from Franklin Roosevelt, MacArthur departed the Philippines for Australia three months later, leaving behind Wainwright and his vastly outnumbered troops to fight on at Bataan. Thanks to the Army’s public relations machine, MacArthur had become the personification of this heroic last-ditch defense, even though he had visited the front lines only once and was known as “Dugout Doug” by Wainwright’s men.
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"I shall return": General MacArthur in the Philippines, 1944. Credit Corbis
His retreat was portrayed by Washington not as an act of flight but as a daring escape through Japanese lines to organize an all-out offensive against Japan from Australia. “I came through and I shall return,” he famously declared. To further embellish his image as national hero at a time of calamitous defeats in the Pacific, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
On April 9, 1942, Wainwright’s forces, close to starvation and racked with disease, finally surrendered. When the Army chief of staff, Gen. George Marshall, announced his intention to bestow the Medal of Honor on Wainwright, too, MacArthur, safely ensconced in Melbourne, protested, declaring that his former subordinate should have fought to the last man. Profoundly shocked by MacArthur’s response, Marshall nonetheless dropped the idea.
As he repeatedly demonstrated throughout the war, the narcissistic MacArthur was incapable of sharing the limelight with anyone, including the talented crew of combat commanders who helped him plan and carry out what Perry calls “the most successful air, land and sea campaign in the history of warfare.” Hopscotching from island to island, MacArthur’s forces finally recaptured the Philippines in February 1945. But MacArthur constantly fought with the Navy for control of the campaign and, in the end, gave little credit to his battlefield generals or anyone else.
Dismissive of Marshall and the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, MacArthur was also openly critical of his commander in chief and flirted with the idea of running against Roosevelt in the 1944 presidential campaign. As the war neared its end, top officials in Washington grew thoroughly sick of him. As Secretary of War Henry Stimson observed, MacArthur had earned the right to command the final land assault on Japan, but “his personality is so unpleasant and has affronted all the men of the Army and Navy with whom he has to work that it is difficult to get combined assent on the proposition.”
Nonetheless Roosevelt gave him the assignment. When Japan surrendered in August 1945 after the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Roosevelt’s successor, Harry Truman, who despised MacArthur, felt he had no option but to name him supreme commander of the Allied occupation. Despite everything that had gone before, it was an inspired choice. Given virtually complete control, the autocratic, aloof MacArthur came to be regarded as a demigod by the Japanese, who could relate to his imperial personality far more easily than could his American colleagues. In return, he showed an uncharacteristic sensitivity in his dealings with both Japanese officials and citizens, believing, as he told the White House adviser Robert Sherwood, that if they were treated liberally and with dignity, “we shall have the friendship and cooperation of the Asian people far off into the future.”
Instead of trying Emperor Hirohito, who was considered a deity by his people, as a war criminal, MacArthur chose to keep him as constitutional monarch. Hirohito, in turn, modernized himself and his court, supporting MacArthur’s reforms and announcing to his shocked subjects that he was not divine after all. In short order, Japan’s military forces were disarmed and disbanded, militarists purged from the government, land reform and labor unions introduced, and a new constitution put in place that contained perhaps the world’s most liberal guarantee of individual freedoms. The Constitution’s most revolutionary reform — legal equality for women, which included equal pay for equal work as well as the right to vote and to own and inherit property — was the brainchild of MacArthur himself, who believed that the emancipation of women would speed destruction of Japan’s testosterone-fueled militaristic culture.
At times, Morris, a business entrepreneur, is awkward and clumsy in his writing, with a penchant for clichés and unfortunate phrases like “those awful moments when stomach butterflies nervously flap their wings.” But the story he tells is a fascinating one. As he notes, MacArthur’s triumph in Japan was eclipsed by his ultimately disastrous nine-month tenure as commander of United Nations forces in Korea, which ended with the routing of his soldiers by Chinese troops and his dismissal by Truman for insubordination — a presidential decision wholeheartedly endorsed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
MacArthur was one of the most decorated generals in American history. But in the end he turned out to be far better at making peace than waging war.
SUPREME COMMANDER
MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan
By Seymour Morris Jr.
Illustrated. 364 pp. Harper. $26.99.
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA
The Making of Douglas MacArthur
By Mark Perry
Illustrated. 380 pp. Basic Books. $29.99.
Lynne Olson’s most recent book is “Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941.”
A version of this review appears in print on April 27, 2014, on Page BR27 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: Retreat and Advance.
QUOTE:
book is eye-opening, interesting and lively. If schools put it on the curriculum, kids would pay more attention.
Rather than a dry recitation in chronological order, it’s an extraordinary compendium of intriguing facts.
should be required reading for anyone in public office, a potent reminder that real history, not the tabloid fodder sprayed across the nightly news, is often made far from the limelight.
THE BLOG 07/03/2010 05:12 am ET | Updated May 25, 2011
American History Revised — 200 Startling Facts
By Fern Siegel
Conventional wisdom says history is written by the winners. But Seymour Morris, a former corporate executive who’s lived abroad for the past 12 years, challenges that assertion. Many of the people or events that shaped America’s destiny may be unknown, but their impact is critical.
In American History Revised — 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It Into The Textbooks (Broadway Books), he neatly illustrates the twists and turns. His book is eye-opening, interesting and lively. If schools put it on the curriculum, kids would pay more attention.
American History Revealed is divided into 10 chapters; the headings are thematic but broad-based, such as “Forgotten by History,” “American Self-Identity” and “Not What You Think.” Rather than a dry recitation in chronological order, it’s an extraordinary compendium of intriguing facts.
Morris believes “understanding our past requires imagination.” There are secrets and discrepancies to reconcile, and 200 startling facts curiously omitted from textbooks, all of which altered American life — a stark reminder that seemingly irrelevant events can have enormous consequences.
For example, the Revolutionary War may have been avoided if King George III had accepted America’s “Olive Branch Petition,” which expressed loyalty to the Crown and requested reconciliation. The Colonists resisted authoritarian rule, but they maintained their allegiance to Britain. Acceptance would have changed both nations’ futures.
In 1963, the Secret Service in Dallas installed a protective bubble over JFK’s convertible, but it was such a beautiful day that the president insisted it be removed so people could see him. Kennedy, determined to end the Vietnam War, was replaced by LBJ, who ordered a massive assault.
What’s interesting about Morris’ premise is how often individual carelessness affected events. George Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware was spotted by a loyalist, who alerted the British commander. But he got drunk, and didn’t bother to read it, ensuring the rebels a successful sneak attack, which decisively turned the tide of war.
Similarly, the U.S. government maintains the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise. In fact, an outlying radar base at Opana reported a large contingent of planes headed to Pearl Harbor. Rather than relay the message to the admirals at the base, the lieutenant ignored repeated warnings, ultimately costing 2,400 lives and destroying the fleet.
Enlarging our scope is the goal of American History Revised; it doesn’t celebrate the famous or offer revisionist or politically correct images. It’s a user-friendly guide to how fate determines destinies. Consider: one of our most famous presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, was a fluke. President McKinley’s veep died in office; Roosevelt was the third man offered the post. A year later, McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt entered the White House. Abraham Lincoln won in 1860 with only 39.8% of the vote — the smallest percentage ever recorded, thanks to two third-party candidates.
But without Haym Salomon, a Polish Jew and personal friend of Washington’s, our fledgling government might never have existed. He financed the Revolutionary War, securing loans based on personal credit. Post-war, he saved the U.S. from financial collapse. The debt owed is incalculable; yet when he died — impoverished — he hadn’t been repaid a dime.
History also neglects those who were celebrities in their day, but later consigned to oblivion. Inventor Nickola Tesla is the father of the alternating current, the basis of electricity’s distribution system. A master theoretician, Tesla’s experiments form the basis of radar, X-rays, MRIs, robotics. His electricity technology was superior to Edison’s. Like Hedy Lamarr, whose radio frequency patent led to spectrum technology, the basis for cell phones and Internet access, he died broke and forgotten.
George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, was luckier. He made a fortune, but he also gave his workers decent pay, benefits, profit-sharing and a retirement program. A generous, moral man, who returned his company’s profits on WWI contracts, Eastman’s pictures enriched people’s lives; his business practices were a blueprint for enlightened capitalism. Wall Street, are you listening?
American History is filled with such people and events. It should be required reading for anyone in public office, a potent reminder that real history, not the tabloid fodder sprayed across the nightly news, is often made far from the limelight.
Fern Siegel
Deputy Editor, MediaPost
QUOTE:
American History Revised will make you rethink American history.
If you’re a history buff or just want to learn more about the history of America and have a few chuckles doing so, this book is a definite must-read
Douglas R. Cobb
American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks
Seymour Morris, Jr.
Broadway
Paperback
432 pages
April 2010
rated 5 of 5 possible stars
buy this book now or browse millions of other great products at amazon.com
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History is settled, right? Set into stone? Isn’t that why it’s called history? Aren’t the facts the facts, after all?
In a way, “yes” is the answer to each of the previous questions - the trouble is, some facts seem to be contradictory, and some have been overlooked by many textbooks, which usually try to cover as much material as possible. Textbooks often paint history with too-broad strokes and are based on a format of themes and subthemes. This approach doesn’t allow people to learn about the information presented in an in-depth way but instead in an often dry and boring manner, where the rote memorization of names, places, battles and dates becomes the priority.
Students can and should be enthused about history, rather than bored to tears or driven to sleep by it. That’s why books like Seymour Morrison’s American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks are such a breath of fresh air, a godsend that ought to be required reading in every American History classroom and ought to be in every American’s personal home libraries: this makes learning history fun, instead of a snooze-fest.
Despite what you might think by reading the subtitle of Morrison’s book, it’s not merely a list of 200 of some of the most startling facts that never made it into the textbooks. There are probably far more than 200 interesting facts between its covers - I didn’t go page to page counting them up - but they are discussed within the context of each chapter instead of as individual factoids. For instance, one of the facts on the book’s cover - that “Four presidential elections have been decided by a single vote” - appears in a chapter called “Not What You Think.” This fascinating chapter deals with aspects of American history that you might think you know about but which you’re likely wrong about - or may be right about but not know the real reasons why you are correct.
If you’re a Civil War and/or Abraham Lincoln buff, you might know one of the other facts mentioned on the book’s cover: that “Abraham Lincoln’s son, a corporate tycoon, was a racist.” I knew it, but not from having read it in a textbook - not at the high school level type or lower, anyway. It’s an interesting and ironic sidebar to our sixteenth president’s life and to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era, but it’s not a necessary fact to know. It’s kind of like today being told by the media that a famous Republican congressman’s daughter is a lesbian, when all of his life he’s publically been against gay rights. Just because his daughter happens to be a lesbian doesn’t negate either the good or bad legislation he’s helped pass or dismiss. Though it might be an interesting fact and point to the congressman’s hypocrisy, it’s not a salient one as to how history will remember the congressman’s political actions.
A chapter called “Running for President” goes into the roles that political bosses, power brokers and the media have played in some elections, the role of luck, and the argument that being the vice president “is a good training ground for the presidency.” If you believe that it is, as we’re often taught in school, look to the example of 1972's election, “the only time in our nation’s history when both office-seekers were former vice presidents,” namely Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Also in this chapter, we learn what others thought about some of our presidents before they got elected. Harry Truman’s fiancee’s mother warned her daughter that “You don’t want to marry that farmer boy, he is not going to make it anywhere.” When Warren Harding got married, “his father-in-law was so angry he disinherited the bride and tried to drive him into bankruptcy.”
Morris’s book isn’t just about presidents of the United States. It also includes a chapter related to figures who were crucial (or at least somewhat important) to America’s history who have been mostly ignored in our history classes, “Forgotten by History.” We have all heard of and been taught about the Articles of Confederation, but did you know, as this chapter points out, that under them, for the eight years before George Washington, we had “a presidential office occupied by no fewer than ten men?” Some historians, because of this, argue that “the first president of the United States was John Hanson.”
American History Revised will make you rethink American history. History has already happened so, to some degree, it is set in stone, but so many details and facts exist about history that most people haven’t read or heard about, or which to this day still are revealed, that history isn’t a dead thing. We still have much to learn about it, and books like this one The Smart Aleck’s Guide to American History by Adam Selzer are proof that history isn’t always dry as dust. If you’re a history buff or just want to learn more about the history of America and have a few chuckles doing so, this book is a definite must-read.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Douglas R. Cobb, 2010
Seymour Morris, Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in
Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. 368 pages.
Seymour Morris argues that the huge success of the allied occupation of
Japan was primarily due to the enlightened and powerful leadership of
one man, General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964). There is
considerable evidence to support this assertion. Although he considered
himself a conservative Republican, MacArthur commissioned a Japanese
Constitution far more liberal in its content than the American
Constitution, fostered the growth of labor unions, provided basic rights
for women, engineered a major land reform, and did much more to
encourage the growth of a peaceful and democratic Japan. There can be
no doubt that MacArthur, the supreme commander of the Allied Powers,
was the driving force behind the occupation.
Morris portrays MacArthur as a highly intelligent man and brilliant
manager who was always able to see the “big picture,” who came with a
clear set of objectives, and who achieved virtually everything that he
Book Reviews 191
planned to accomplish. MacArthur saw the need to bring about major
reforms across the spectrum of Japanese society. He argued that Japan
must not revert to its prewar social structure, which greatly restricted
the rights and potential of women, impoverished farmers, and greatly
exploited workers. Japan had been ruled by a wealthy and powerful
group of oligarchs who controlled both business and the government.
MacArthur’s initiatives gave women the vote, the right to marry whom
they pleased, and to own and manage their own property. Labor unions
gave workers a much stronger voice and land reform created a large class
of middle-class property owners. Perhaps most importantly,
MacArthur’s Article Nine in the Constitution forced Japan to renounce
war and forbade the creation of a military that could invade other lands.
One of MacArthur’s key decisions was to support the retention of
the emperor. Many leaders in the West and the rest of Asia wanted to try
Emperor Hirohito 裕仁 (1901–89) as a war criminal, but MacArthur
realized that keeping the emperor on the throne would enhance social
stability. MacArthur met often with Hirohito, who became a major
spokesman in support of MacArthur’s objectives.
Morris claims that MacArthur played a key role in keeping the
Russians out of the occupation while choking the growth of the
Communist Party in Japan. When a reporter asked Japanese Prime
Minister Yoshida Shigeru 吉田茂 (1878–1967) what he felt MacArthur’s
greatest triumph had been, he responded that MacArthur’s resistance to
Soviet efforts to occupy part of Japan and his suppression of the
communists in Japan in 1946 were critical to Japan’s revival after the
War.
Morris’ research and writing are excellent. His work is one of the
most informative and cohesive general studies of the occupation. The
inevitable flaws are few. Morris mentions land reform only in passing,
though many scholars argue that it was MacArthur’s crowning
achievement as supreme commander of the Allied Powers. And by
placing so much emphasis on MacArthur’s role Morris ignores both the
huge contributions of other members of the occupation leadership and
the willingness of so many Japanese to cooperate with the American
reformers. If the Japanese had refused to cooperate, the occupation
would have failed. But Morris correctly emphasizes MacArthur’s
insistence that the reform process had to start early and proceed quickly
and aggressively because the Japanese would soon grow restless and
demand an end to the occupation.
All in all, Morris’ Supreme Commander is an excellent study that
would enhance any college course on the history of modern Japan or
U.S.-Japanese relations.