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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Spielhahnjaeger, post: 1668990, member: 45696&quot;]Definitely MacArthur. He&#039;s obviously one of the two most famous in the bunch (likely thanks in large part to Gregory Peck&#039;s depiction), but he was a superior combat leader compared to Ike. We&#039;re likely better off without MacArthur winning the Republican nomination, but Ike&#039;s political record is inconsistent, at best. And since we&#039;re talking about the General of the Army series, it seems fair to talk about their combat records.</p><p>Eisenhower was a superb staff officer. He compiled intelligence reports during WWI which were immensely useful for US forces and during WWII organized the heck out of American troops assembling in Great Britain. He did the best he could to coordinate with British leaders and did what he could to endure the asshatery of Charles de Gaulle. At the end of the day, however, he was a better organizer than combat leader. He repeatedly wasted opportunities to press Allied advantage in the favor of timidity, which allowed German forces to regroup and launch counterattacks throughout their retreat from France. Although I don&#039;t buy into the common Patton fetishism, it is true that Eisenhower hamstrung him at several critical occasions and definitely disregarded his ultimately correct assessment of the Soviets.</p><p>MacArthur, on the other hand, quickly excelled in the role as a combat leader. The island-hopping campaign was one of consistent and thoughtful adaptation, with US troops learning from each &quot;hop&quot; ways in which Japanese tactics could be countered and strongholds assaulted. Logistics were often a mess in the Pacific Theatre, but the environment likely deserves more blame than MacArthur. He also handled the occupation of Japan in a generally enviable way, helping the Japanese rebuild and become an important ally against Soviet incursion in South-East Asia. Although more than 1,000 death sentences were handed down by American military courts against Japanese war criminals, he did allow to many to escape and then return with amnesty, which resulted in many high-level war criminals returning to Japanese society without ever having to confront well-deserved justice for their heinous crimes.</p><p><br /></p><p>So... they&#039;ve all got their strength and weaknesses, but my mental pro-con list puts MacArthur ahead of Ike.</p><p>Note: My strength is German history and I&#039;m a little out of my element here, but I&#039;m reasonably sure my above details are all correct. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Thanks for the cool contest!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>EDIT: Holy cow, and you can&#039;t forget MacArthur&#039;s exemplary WWI record![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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