Gen. MacArthur (L) embraces Gen. Johnathan Wainwright (R) after his release from Japanese captvity

Presidential speechwriter and journalist Jonathan Horn, author of books on George Washington’s latter years in the 18th century and Confederate general Robert E. Lee in the 19th century, explores the 20th century with his latest work on the entwined lives of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright. It was their destiny to preside over the greatest defeat in U.S. military history in the Philippines as the United States was thrust into World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

For MacArthur, recalled to Australia by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the setback was temporary. He would proceed to form a new command, the Southwest Pacific Area, or SWPA, and fight his way back through New Guinea to find redemption with his celebrated return to the Philippines. For Wainwright, the defeat on Bataan and Corregidor were the end of the road, with the remaining war years spent in prisoner of war camps. Both were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration the United States can bestow on service members engaged in combat.

Wainwright’s medal was justly deserved, albeit delayed until after the war by a petulant MacArthur, who was angered by Wainwright’s surrender of the entire Philippines after the fall of Corregidor. MacArthur’s medal, awarded to soften the blow of his forced withdrawal to Australia and to counter Japanese propaganda, was certainly not merited, at least in the traditional sense of actions above and beyond the call of duty.

MacArthur was the son of a celebrated American hero; his father Arthur MacArthur had earned his own Medal of Honor leading a Wisconsin regiment up Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863. The elder MacArthur would go on to lead troops again in battle on Luzon during the Spanish-American War and culminated his career as governor-general of the Philippines. His son Douglas spent those war years at West Point, graduating in 1903 at the top of his class both academically and in cadet rank. Wainwright, descended from a star-crossed military family (his father, a commander in the U.S. Navy, was killed by a Confederate musket ball in 1863, and his brother, a naval ensign, was killed by pirates off the coast of Mexico in 1902), graduated from the U.S. Military Academy three years later, also reaching the rank of first captain.

But if luck was essential to a military leader, and MacArthur certainly thought it was, MacArthur had it in spades, while Wainwright’s fate would be only slightly better than his two slain family members.

MacArthur earned his initial fame as one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War I. He would proceed to become the youngest major general in the Army, serving as the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy and deploying for two additional tours in the Philippines before vaulting over numerous other general officers to become the U.S. Army chief of staff. But not without controversy: His attack on Great War bonus marchers in 1932 would sully his reputation with his former comrades in arms. MacArthur would finish his interwar years as a field marshal (a gaudy rank chosen by MacArthur himself) of the newly established Philippine Army before being recalled to active duty as commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East in the summer of 1941.

Wainwright’s path was more conventional. He was a supremely competent cavalryman, a dedicated disciple of a dying branch of service. Instead of entering the ranks of the newly created Armored Force, however, Wainwright headed in 1940 on orders to the Philippines, where he would command the U.S. Army Philippine Division and then the North Luzon Force, composed of several poorly trained and equipped Philippine Army divisions and the superb 26th Cavalry Regiment of Philippine Scouts. Not to worry, his boss MacArthur opined, the Japanese would not invade until April 1942 at the earliest. Not for the last time, MacArthur’s intelligence would be off by an order of magnitude.

Instead of relying on War Plan Orange, which envisioned the provisioning of the Bataan Peninsula and nearby island fortress of Corregidor for an extended siege, MacArthur ordered Wainwright’s troops to defend forward along the beaches of Lingayen Gulf. A well-trained and equipped corps might have been able to execute the new plan, but the North Luzon Force was anything but. As Japanese forces shattered his lines, Wainwright fought a delaying action back to Bataan, just as War Plan Orange had envisioned. But with one huge difference—the food required to sustain U.S. and Filipino forces in the peninsula had been positioned instead in the Luzon central plain to support the revised (and overly ambitious) plan. The Japanese captured most of the supplies, while Wainwright’s troops went on half rations as soon as they dug in on Bataan. There they fought courageously as their stamina slowly dwindled, their defeat only a matter of time.

MacArthur would not be present to witness the end. Ordered to Australia by the president, MacArthur, his family, and a small staff departed on PT boats in March 1942 on a harrowing journey to Mindanao, and from there by air to Darwin. Wainwright would hold as long as he could, which was April for Bataan and a month later for Corregidor and the rest of the Philippines. As Wainwright shuffled off to a prisoner of war camp, MacArthur built a new army and began the long journey back through the tortuous jungles of New Guinea.

MacArthur never forgave Wainwright for surrendering the entire Philippines to the Japanese, even though he had little choice in the matter. MacArthur’s anger was better directed at the War Department, but he made his displeasure clear by sabotaging the award of the Medal of Honor to Wainwright, who spent three-plus years in grueling conditions as a prisoner of war wondering whether he would be court martialed for the surrender of his command. He needn’t have worried. The War Department promoted him to full general while in captivity and after his release he was given a prominent place of honor on the USS Missouri at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, and he likewise was present at the Japanese surrender in the Philippines. Wainwright returned to the United States to massive parades in his honor. President Truman gave him the ultimate honor when he awarded Wainwright the Medal of Honor, long delayed by MacArthur’s pettiness.

By then MacArthur had moved on, famously wading ashore on Leyte on October 20, 1944, overseeing the liberation of Luzon in 1945, presiding over the Japanese surrender, and acting as the Allied viceroy in the occupation of postwar Japan. He had one more operational success in Korea during the Inchon invasion, but overreached due to poor intelligence (a habit in MacArthur’s commands), spurring Chinese intervention in the conflict. MacArthur’s disagreement with Truman administration policy led to his relief by a president much less willing to overlook his political missteps than was Roosevelt during World War II.

Horn’s research, much of it conducted in archives, is exceptional and his writing fluid and engaging. He has crafted a very personal account of two of America’s most celebrated heroes, one (MacArthur) who remains in the public imagination and another (Wainwright) who has been largely lost to time. This is a highly recommended account of their service to the nation, one that can be enjoyed by historians and lay readers alike.

The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines
by Jonathan Horn
Scribner, 427 pp., $30.99

Peter Mansoor is a retired U.S. Army colonel, the General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at Ohio State University, and author of the forthcoming book Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, August 2025).

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