Just fade away: A MacArthur WI

After his first marriage ended in divorce, apparently MacArthur went into deep depression & seriously considered suicide. Suppose he'd done it?

How much better could the Pacific War have gone? Might it actually have been worse for the U.S.?:eek: MacArthur would never have been in command in P.I. Would that have influenced the amount of matériel DC sent? Who might have gotten the job, instead? Would the new guy have prepared better, with artillery sites & caches of material (like for roadblocks)? Or might he have been incompetent? Would he still have held back the B-17s on day 1 of the war?

Without MacArthur, was there any chance of P.I. independence before the war?
 
I am no fan of MacArthur but the original thought for the B17s that day was to attack the harbor not the airfields. The harbor was empty so no real gain there and as they weren't really effective for anti shipping or close air support I dont think they would have really changed the battle results. Just wouldn't have looked as bad. The fighters caught on the ground weren't his fault. Just the result of bad command and control and not making the mental peace to war transition. (They landed and went to lunch.)
 
IDK if the B-17s would have done any actual harm, but it looks to me like they would've been off their bases when Japanese a/c arrived later in the day. No?

Also possible the fighters would've been more dispersed.

It's virtually certain food & medicine would've been moved out of Japanese reach, so the siege in Bataan is longer (if it happens...).
 
Agree the supplies would be cached in line with warplanes orange but fighter dispersement was as much a lack of facilities as anything. Really only 2 decent airfields which was a lack of funds from US prior to the war.
 
Likely all the resources directed to the war in the Pacific would have flowed into the island hopping campaign and the Philippines would have been ignored.
I think his absence from the scene would have been more felt in the peace that followed and in the Korean War.
Of course, assuming his death occurs in 1929 or 1930, the Bonus Army fiasco does not occur depriving many althis writers a jumping off point.
 
Likely all the resources directed to the war in the Pacific would have flowed into the island hopping campaign and the Philippines would have been ignored.
I think his absence from the scene would have been more felt in the peace that followed and in the Korean War.
Of course, assuming his death occurs in 1929 or 1930, the Bonus Army fiasco does not occur depriving many althis writers a jumping off point.
Agreed on the Bonus Army, which would be good. (There's a small chance somebody else is so stupid...)

No MacArthur in PTO means Japan loses a great deal sooner, IMO: no guerrilla supply ops by subs, & (likely, IMO) no USN subs based in Oz. (That last might be untrue, if the U.S. CO evacs to Oz, & if that obtains...:oops:)
 
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