Extended excerpt: [Address to members of the National Institute of Social Sciences after receiving their society’s gold medal]

“If the historian of the future should deem my service worthy of some slight reference, it would be my hope that he mention me not as a Commander engaged in campaigns and battles, even though victorious to American arms, but rather as that one whose sacred duty it became, once the guns were silenced, to carry to the land of our vanquished foe the solace and hope and faith of Christian morals. Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would gladly yield every honor which has been accorded me by war.” (p. 192, column 2)

Source note: This quote appears on the MacArthur Monument in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, CA.

Source: General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964 (2000) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 1-56311-589-1

Extended excerpt: [Address to U.S. Congress. Italics original to transcribed text] “Efforts have been made to distort my position. It has been said, in effect, that I was a warmonger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.”

Source link [Congressional transcript]: Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82nd Congress, First Session, Vol. 97, Part 3 (1951) online via U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO): https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1951-pt3/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1951-pt3-18.pdf

Source link [Video & transcript]: “General Douglas MacArthur: Farewell Address to Congress” (19 April 1951) online via American Rhetoric [Note – scroll down page]: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurfarewelladdress.htm

Extended excerpt: [MacArthur’s formal annual report as the U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff. Quote can be found immediately following the report subheading ‘Effect of Reduced Appropriations of Training Efficiency and Personnel.’]

“In no other profession are the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling and so irrevocable as in the military.

Suspension of military training or further slashing into the Army’s existing organization would produce a tragic situation – a situation even more serious in its eventual results than that discussed in the preceding section. Efficiency would fall off rapidly. Future correction would involve years of intensive work to make good months of current neglect. In the event of an emergency, human and material costs and risk of defeat would be multiplied.” (p. 21)

Source link: Report of the Secretary of War to the President (1933) online via HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012257518;view=1up;seq=27

Extended excerpt: [Testimony. MacArthur was responding to a remark from Senate Committee on Foreign Relations member J.W. Fulbright. Excerpt appears under subheading ‘Chinese Peace Without Soviet Sanction’]

“Now, no man in the world is more anxious to avoid the expansion of war than I am. I am just 100 percent a believe against war. I believe the enormous sacrifices that have been brought about by the scientific methods of killing have rendered war a fantasic solution of international differences.

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide; and I believe that the entire effort of modern society should be concentrated on an endeavor to outlaw war as a method of the solution of problems between nations.” (p. 145)

Source link: Military Situation in the Far East, Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Eighty-Second Congress, First Session (1951) online via HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b643205;view=1up;seq=155

Extended excerpt: [Memoir]

“It was close,” I remarked to Dick Sutherland when we landed, “but that’s the way it is in war. You win or lose, live or die – and the difference is just an eyelash.” (p. 145)

Source note: MacArthur’s book was also excerpted in LIFE magazine in July 1964: “In war,” Douglas MacArthur said, “you will or lose, live or die – and the difference is in an eyelash.”

[“A Leapfrog War Clears the Road for Return” (10 July 1964) LIFE magazine, Vol. 57, No. 2, New York: Time, Inc., p. 70]

Source: Library – Reminiscences (1964) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 779346589

Extended excerpt: [Keynote speech, 1952 Republican National Convention]

“Few would take exception to the impulse, however idealistic, to support the preservation of freedom where we have done so much to implant the principles and spirit of freedom, but it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” (p. 72)

Source [Text]: Official Report of the Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Republican National Convention (1952) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 1998801

Source link [Video]: “Gen. Douglas MacArthur Keynote Address” (7 July 1952) online via C-SPAN: https://www.c-span.org/video/?3985-1/gen-douglas-macarthur-keynote-address

Extended excerpt: [Address to Michigan’s state legislature]

“Indeed, it is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which has bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear. While such an economy may produce a sense of seeming prosperity for the moment, it rests on an illusionary foundation of complete unreliability and renders among our political leaders almost a greater fear of peace than is their fear of war. A day of reckoning and adjustment is inevitably ahead when we find that the resources with which we might have cushioned the shock of readjustment and reconversion have been recklessly expended.” (p. 206)

Source:  Library – General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964 (2000) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 1-56311-589-1

Extended excerpt: [Remarks to West Point Cadets about what he learned while attending the military school. The quote cited here is the last of four points.]

“Last, but not least, courage – moral courage, the courage of one’s convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle – the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other.” (p. 1, column 7)

Source note: MacArthur graduated from West Point in 1903. He later served as the school’s superintendent from 1919 – 1922, and maintained close ties with the school and West Point cadets throughout his life. The quote here are remarks MacArthur made to a small group of visiting West Point cadets, who visited MacArthur on his 84th birthday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. MacArthur died a few months later on April 5, 1964.

Source link: “Old Solider MacArthur Marks 84th Birthday” (26 January 1964) The Shreveport Times, via Newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/image/217335599/?terms=%22It%27s%2Bthe%2Bage-old%2Bstruggle%22%2B%2B%2BMacArthur

Extended excerpt: [Newspaper report, citing cable sent by MacArthur from the Philippine Islands]

“In a message to the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, MacArthur said, “the history of failure in war can almost be summed up in two words – too late. Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy. Too late in preparedness. Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance. Too late in standing by one’s friends.” (p. 4, column 4)

Source link: “Gen. MacArthur for Added Aid to Britain” (16 September 1940) St. Louis Star & Times, online via Newspapers.com [subscription service]: https://www.newspapers.com/image/205491984/?terms=%22history%2Bof%2Bfailure%2Bin%2Bwar%2Bcan%2Balmost%2Bbe%2Bsummed%2Bup%2Bin%2Btwo%2Bwords%22

Extended excerpt: [Speech] “The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

Source link [Speech Audio]: “General Douglas MacArthur USMA 1962: Duty, Honor, Country” (12 May 1962) online via Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/27105152

Source link [Transcript]: “Slyvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address” (12 May 1962) transcript online via American Rhetoric: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurthayeraward.html

Re-quote notes: MacArthur repeated slightly different versions of this quote to other audiences. Two examples include:

5 July 1961 – Address to Philippine Congress: “Global war has become a Frankenstein to destroy both sides. No longer is it a weapon of adventure – the shortcut to international power. If you lose, you are annihilated. If you win, you stand only to lose. No longer does it possess even the chance of the winner of a duel. It contains now only the germs of double suicide.”

[Source: “War can no longer settle international disputes, MacArthur declares…” (5 July 1961) Port Angeles Evening News, Port Angeles, Washington, p. 3, column 1; online via Newspapers.com [subscription service] www.newspapers.com]

11 June 1961 –Michigan State University commencement address: “Global war has become a Frankenstein to destroy both sides. No longer can it be a successful weapon of international adventure. If you lose, you are annihilated. If you win, you stand only to lose. No longer does it possess even the chance of the winner of a duel – it contains now only the germs of double suicide.” (p. 236)

[Source: “101st Commencement Address” (11 June 1961) Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; in General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964, ed. Edward T. Imparato, Turner Publishing Co., 2000, p. 236, column 2]

Extended excerpt: [Address to banquet sponsored by the American Legion]

“War has become a Frankenstein to destroy both sides. No longer can it be a successful weapon of adventure whereby a short cut to international power and wealth – a place in the sun – can be gained. If you lose, you are annihilated. If you win, you stand only to lose. No longer does it possess the chance of the winner of a duel – it contains rather the germs of double suicide. Science has clearly outmoded it as a feasible arbiter.”

Source link [Featured source]: Bataan, Vol. XII (February-March 1955) online via Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=i3bTAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA29-IA88&dq=Global+war+has+become+a+Frankenstein+to+destroy+both+sides.++No+longer+is+it+a+weapon+of+adventure+%E2%80%93+the+shortcut+to+international+power.+If+you+lose,+you+are+annihilated.++If+you+win,+you+stand+only+to+lose.

Source link [5 July 1961 re-quote]: “War can no longer settle international disputes, MacArthur declares…” (5 July 1961) Port Angeles Evening News, via Newspapers.com [subscription service]: https://www.newspapers.com/image/17827214/

Source [11 June 1961 re-quote]: Library – General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964 (2000) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 1-56311-589-1

Re-quote notes: While the line “in war there is no substitute for victory” is often attributed as a MacArthur original, he wasn’t the first to express the idea and even the exact phrase. Earlier examples include:

• 1917 – Winston Churchill, “No Substitute for Victory” (11 October 1918) The Times, London:

“No peace, however fair-seeming, which is based upon weakness and war weariness on the part of the Allies can be honourble or lasting. There are no substitutes for victory, and no League of Nations would be worth a scrap of paper if it were based up on triumph of Hidenburg and Tirpitz.”

• 1944 – U.S. Army – Guide to the Use of Information Materials:

“There is no substitute for military victory.” [Vol. 3, Issue 15, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), p. 2] This line was shared in a number of different U.S. Army and military information publications between 1943-1945.

• 1944 – Dwight D. Eisenhower (2 August 1944), in a letter to his wife, Mamie Eisenhower:

“Right now the morale on our front is exceedingly high – as I suppose you could guess. In war there is no substitute for victory.”

Douglas MacArthur himself was known to have said “there is no substitute for victory” on a number of different occasions prior to his famous April 1951 ‘farewell’ speech to Congress we have cited here. In March of that same year, MacArthur included the line in a letter to U.S. Representative Joseph W. Martin Jr., and Martin read the letter during a session in the U.S. House during his testimony on April 5, 1951.

Sources [Please see “Source Link” tabs for links and other additional source information]:

1917 – Winston Churchill, “No Substitute for Victory” (11 October 1918) The Times, London: “No peace, however fair-seeming, which is based upon weakness and war weariness on the part of the Allies cn be honourble or lasting. There are no substitutes for victory, and no League of Nations would be worth a scrap of paper if it were based up on triumph of Hidenburg and Tirpitz.”

1944 – War Department, U.S. Army – Guide to the Use of Information Materials (September 1944) U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), p. 2] This line was shared in a number of different U.S. Army and military information publications between 1943-1945.

1944 – Dwight D. Eisenhower to Mamie Eisenhower (2 August 1944) in Letters to Mamie, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1978, p. 203

1951 – “Letter from Douglas MacArthur to Joseph W Martin (Tokyo, 20 March 1951)” Text online via Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance su Europe (CVCE), www.cvce.eu]

Extended excerpt: [Address to U.S. Congress. Excerpt via official Congressional transcript.]

“War’s very object is victory – not prolonged indecision. [Applause] In war, indeed, there is no substitute for victory. [Applause]

There are some who for varying reasons would appease Red China. They are blind to history’s clear lesson. For history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means – where appeasement has led to more than a sham peace. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only other alternative.” (p. 4125, columns 1-2)

Source link – [Featured source – MacArthur speech video & transcript]: “General Douglas MacArthur: Farewell Address to Congress” (19 April 1951) online via American Rhetoric: www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurfarewelladdress.htm

Source link – [Featured source – Congressional transcript]: Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82nd Congress, First Session, Vol. 97, Part 3 (1951) online via U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO): https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1951-pt3/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1951-pt3-18.pdf

Source link [Re-quote notes – Churchill]: “No Substitute for Victory” (11 December 1917) The Times, online via Newspapers.com [subscription service]: https://www.newspapers.com/image/32944274/

Source: [Re-quote notes – 1944 War Dept. Pamphlet]: Guide to Use of Informational Materials (1943) U.S. Army, Publication No. 20-3

Source: [Re-quote notes – 1944 Eisenhower letter]: Library – Letters to Mamie (1978) International Standard Book Number 0-385-13913-9

Source link [Re-quote notes – Earlier MacArthur letter]: “Letter from Douglas MacArthur to Joseph W Martin (Tokyo, 20 March 1951)” online via CVCE: http://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1999/1/1/2dee57c6-52f6-4ef7-87dc-489085a99b78/publishable_en.pdf