GENERAL MacARTHUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25800, 22 March 1945, Page 5

GENERAL MacARTHUR

VISIT TO AMERICA LIKELY IMPORTANT CONFERENCES (Rec. 7 p.m.} NEW YORK. Mar. 20. General MacArthur is expected to visit the United States before or during the San Francisco Conference to confer with President Roosevelt, General George Marshall, and Admiral E. J. King, say Washington reports. The talks naturally would be on strategy for the final drive against Japan. An important section of the American press is campaigning for an early visit of General MacArthur now that he has fulfilled his promise to reconquer the Philippines. It is emphasised that General MacArthur is the only officer ranking as a Pacific commander who has not returned to Washington for the important Pacific conferences which have been going on for the past three weeks. Admirals Nimitz and Halsey, Generals Wedemeyer and Hurley, and a score of lesser officers have arrived in Washington by air in a steady stream, and have conferred secretly at the White House. The unofficial but authoritative Army and Navy Journal declares: “ One prominent figure absent from Washington was General MacArthur. As he bulks too largely in American and dominion eyes to be disregarded in planning the proposed reduction of Japan, it is assumed that he will be ordered to the capital to present his views as soon as he has crushed organised resistance in the Philippines.” • . , The Washington Post, in an editorial, says:-“ The sooner the question of command is settled the sooner decisive action against Japan can begin. No one would inspire greater public confidence than General MacArthur. The very announcement of the appoint- ■ ment would hasten the end of the war. It would strike terror into Japanese hearts, which are downcast over the way General MacArthur out-foxed and humbled the redoubtable and boastful Yamashita, and it would inspire our own forces. They know General MacArthur as a man who fights with his brains in order to save their lives.”