PC: MacArthur dictatorship?

This is an idea that I've often seen referred to on here, but never actually encountered.

Essentially what it says on the tin - Douglas MacArthur ends up as a dictator of the United States.

Can it be done, and what could/would it look like?
 
How could he end up as dictator and when? By defying Truman and rallying the armed forces behind him?
 
How could he end up as dictator and when? By defying Truman and rallying the armed forces behind him?
He'd be laughed out of the room and disgraced for the rest of his life. The US was in no position to have a military coup in the 1950s.
 
Though MacArthur doesn't succeed in becoming a dictator permanently, The Falcon Cannot Hear features him seizing power, along with all sorts of stuff hitting fans.

There is also a follow-up thread, which finished the story after the original thread was unfortunately closed due to accusations of plagiarism.
 
No. MacArthur gets a lot of crap, almost all of it deserved, but he was no dictator waiting for an opportunity.
 

Greenville

Banned
It's more than likely MacArthur simply resigns from his position as Allied commander and runs against Truman in 1952 as the Republican candidate.
 
I have a scenario in mind where America becomes a semi-military dictatorship under MacArthur.

Basically the 20s and early 30s are even worse than IOTL, along the lines of Ruins of an American party System. The Great Depression happens more or less as IOTL. A conservative President narrowly wins the 1932 due to the left being divided resulting in worsening conditions and lackluster attempts at reform.

Come 1936 a liberal President is elected, albeit tiny portion of the popular vote due to the political system being shattered (amongst other things Huey Long splits off from the Democrats and the various non-Communist socialist parties are able to unite as a viable force), resulting in them winning the EC with less than a third of the popular vote (similar to The Falcon Cannot Hear) or being chosen as a compromise candidate due to a hung EC (either way there are clear issues with the legitimacy of their mandate). The President attempts to bring through more substantial reforms, but finds themselves stymied by a conservative and obstructionist Supreme Court and a divided and hostile Congress. With the situation deteriorating things come to ahead when the President is assassinated.

His VP, now finding himself way over his head whilst things are collapsing, declares a state of emergency, a temporary suspension of the Constitution and sweeping emergency powers, with the hope of using said powers to quell unrest and force through needed reforms. This backfires and sparks a Civil War as various states and local governments are divided between those who support these measures and those opposed to it. Over the course of the Civil War the VP dies (possibly assassinated though at this point they would probably have tighter security) and the remnants of his government form an emergency council comprised of senior military and political figures, with MacArthur as its first-among-equals head.

Over the course of the next few years the government is able to win the Civil War due to superior fire-power, international support and being able to exploit divisions between the rebel factions. This leave MacArthur as the nominal leader of the United States, with sweeping dictatorial powers and a strong reluctance to return power to a civilian administration that he sees as responsible for allowing this mess to happen.
 
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