It was his lack of respect for authority that led to his downfall. To those who fretted at his monumental arrogance, World War II correspondent William Dunn says in one of the interviews, ''How would you like to go into battle behind a general with an inferiority complex?'' ''It`s the orders you disobey that make you famous,'' he once told an aide who worried about his insubordination.
Eisenhower, asked if he knew MacArthur, once quipped, ''Yes, I studied dramatics under him.''Īlways, MacArthur was his own man, flouting orders from Washington, a habit that eventually ended his career. He was at once protean and vain, rising to heights of eloquence and inspiration, while decking himself out in an almost ridiculous costume including a crushed hat, leather jacket, sun glasses and a foot-long corncob pipe. He was serenely confident, yet childishly unable to take criticism. MacArthur could be charming and arrogant.
And at 54, as a four-star general serving as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff before the war, he paid off a mistress in terror that his mother might learn of his liaison with her.
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