MacArthur (1977)

Gregory Peck: Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Responding to restrictive attack orders] 

  General Douglas MacArthur : In all my fifty years of military service, I have never learned how to bomb HALF a bridge!

• President Sergio Osmena : You see, General, my people are going to laugh if I fell in deep water. I cannot swim!

  General Douglas MacArthur : That's not so bad, Mr. President. Everyone's about to see that I can't walk on water.

• Mrs. MacArthur : [on Eisenhower's GOP nomination for president]  What kind of president do you think he's gonna make?

  General Douglas MacArthur : I think he'll make a fine president. He was the best clerk who ever served under me.

• Soldier : [MacArthur arrives at front lines and starts to get out of jeep]  General, sir! Excuse me, sir, but we just killed a Jap sniper here not five minutes ago!

  Gen. Douglas MacArthur : Fine, son! That's the best thing to do with 'em!

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur : The days of the frontal attack are over. Only a mediocre commander would use it. Your good commanders do not turn in heavy losses.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [to the U.S. Congress]  But, once war has been forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war, there can be no substitute for victory. For history teaches us, with unmistakable emphasis, that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and increasingly greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only alternative. "Why? Why... ," my soldiers asked of me, "surrender military advantages to an enemy in the field?" I could not answer. The magnificence and the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description. They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery.

• General Douglas MacArthur : I requested permission to bomb the Yangtze bridges to keep the Chinese out of Korea. They said, "You might bomb the southern half of the bridges only." In my 50 years of military service, I have never learned how to bomb half a bridge.

• General Douglas MacArthur : For the first time in military history, a commander has been denied the use of his military power to safeguard the lives of his soldiers and the safety of the Army. It leaves me with a sense of irrepressible... shock.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [on appeasement in Korea]  This isn't war. It's half war. It's an immoral compromise with evil.

• General Douglas MacArthur : I couldn't substitute my policy for Mr. Truman's, because Mr. Truman doesn't have a policy.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [to cadet corps at West Point]  Today marks my final roll call with you. I want you to know that when I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the corps... and the corps... and the corps. I bid you farewell.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [to the U.S. Congress]  I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day... that "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." Like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away. An old solider who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye!

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur : Not my idea of how to win a war.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [Upon receiving the Medal of Honor]  My father received the Congressional Medal of Honor when he was 19... It took me just a little bit longer... Right now, I'd gladly swap it for one trained division.

• General Douglas MacArthur : [to President Roosevelt during a meeting about the Philippines]  I said I was going back, and I'm going to do it even if I have to row in a boat.

• General Douglas MacArthur : How did Shakespeare put it? A general's wife is the general's general.

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur : It leaves me with a sense of inexpressible... shock.

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur : The hour of your redemption is here. Rally to me. Let the indomitable spirit of Bataan and Corregidor lead on. As the lines of battle roll forward, rise and strike. For your homes and hearths, strike! For future generations of your sons and daughters, strike! In the name of your sacred dead, strike! Let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steel. The divine guidance of God points the way. Follow in His name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory.