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Gaijin Shogun is one of those polarizing figures that people either love or hate. Disclaimer: I fall into the hate side of things. :D

So my question for the gallery is this: how would the war in the Pacific have played out if Douglas MacArthur had been killed in the Philippines?

Let's say his PT Boat was found by a Japanese air patrol, strafed and sunk. It makes me smile to think of MacArthur as bullet-ridden, oil-burned fish food. After March 1942, no more Mac.

Two obvious ramifications are that there would be no bi-polar split in American strategy in the Pacific. MacArthur hijacked the war effort to appease his own personal vanity in the Philippines; without him, I have a hard time seeing the United States wanting to run two separate major offensive strategies at once. The focus would be on the Navy's Central Pacific plan. Where would that lead?

The other obvious ramification is smaller, but worthy of note. I have a hard time seeing any other American commander in Australia being so narcissistic as to disparage the fighting qualities of the allies who are supplying the bulk of his troops at that time. For example, Patton could say some pretty stupid things, but I have a hard time seeing him saying something that stupid and obviously self-serving. The Aussies are pretty bitter about it to this very day, so losing Mac would spare America one of its more embarrassing "open mouth, insert foot" moments.
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