Curtis LeMay on Douglas MacArthur

“MacArthur was imperialistic, almost self-godlike, and he always remained aloof from his soldiers. You were never going to see old Mac sitting in the damned mud, swatting flies and mosquitoes, eating rancid chow in a pouring tropical rain. Oh no. His ass was in a nice house or office with water buffalo steaks and red wine. I have to say that he was just about the only senior flag officer I can say that about, personal experience. All the others I have mentioned shared the misery, even Patton. He lived well per his rank, but he gave up his jeep to send wounded men back to an aid station in Sicily and walked on foot as the Germans shot at his men.”

“Korea was a sideshow for me. Truman and later Eisenhower both negotiated the peace treaty, which I thought was bullshit, because there was no way the North could sustain the pain and suffering that we could inflict from the air. I also doubted that the Russians would go into full war mode over North Korea, even if I vaporized China. Omar Bradley agreed with me, and he said that "Ike is a politician now, not a soldier." Just like my plan for the Soviet Union, I would have bombed their air bases, industrial sites, and military installations, and after the first few waves did not get the point across, a single tactical atomic drop would have definitely made the point. Sadly, [Major General] Orvil Anderson proposed the same method, and was fired for his objective yet, in my opinion, very astute opinion. But after the Chinese came into it, that was what really got MacArthur relieved of his command. He thought like me on that level: just destroy the fuckers and end this stupid shit. Truman was not of that mind-set, and neither was Ike. I think both feared that such a bold move would force the Russians into it. Stalin had just died, and there was a new Soviet leadership. We knew and understood how Stalin thought, but we did not have a lot of intel on the new head honcho, Nikita Krushchev. He would become a prick, too.”