On October 26, 2024, the MacArthur Memorial and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf with a series of presentations. 

Dr. Peter Mansoor, a retired US Army officer and the General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at Ohio State University, presented a lecture entitled The Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf. If you would like to see the slides he used, you can also find his presentation on the MacArthur Memorial’s YouTube channel. Link: https://youtu.be/eFBjKmdlt_0 

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On October 26, 2024, the MacArthur Memorial and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf with a series of presentations. 

Thomas Cutler, a retired USN officer and a preeminent naval historian, presented a lecture entitled The Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf. If you would like to see the slides he used, you can also find his presentation on the MacArthur Memorial’s YouTube channel. Link: https://youtu.be/eFBjKmdlt_0 

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General Douglas MacArthur’s forces began landing at Leyte on October 20, 1944. That’s the day MacArthur took the famous picture wading ashore at Leyte, but there was a lot more to the operation than that. Why was Leyte chosen over Mindanao? How prepared were Japanese commanders for the invasion? How did the Japanese army and navy try to repel the invasion? Did MacArthur really hope to take part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf aboard the USS Nashville? MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams sat down to discuss these questions and more.

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During World War II, as many young men joined the military, many college basketball programs in the United States were suspended. The US Military Academy at West Point was one of the schools that continued its basketball program. Army’s 1943 season was not a great season – but the 1944 season was spectacular. Against a backdrop of war, Army delivered a perfect season and then many of the key players on that team went from basketball to the battlefield. To discuss this unique team, the MacArthur Memorial Podcast hosted Jim Noles, author of Undefeated: From Basketball to Battle: West Point's Perfect Season 1944. 

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When most people think about the battles in the Pacific during World War II, they probably think of Guadalcanal, Okinawa, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Leyte Gulf, Midway, etc. It was a very long and difficult war though, and there were dozens of other battles. One of the lesser-known battles is the Battle of Morotai, which began on September 15, 1944. Part of the Halmahera Island group, Morotai is a small island in what is now Indonesia – southeast of the Philippines. Prior to World War II it was part of the Netherlands East Indies. It was occupied in 1942 by the Japanese. 

To mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Morotai, MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda WIlliams sat down to discuss the battle and the role in played in setting up MacArthur's return to the Philippines. 

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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of the most popular and successful relief programs during the Great Depression. Between 1933-1942, it put 3 million men to work throughout the United States. These young men worked on conservation and transportation projects on Federal, State, and local government lands. 

The CCC was the brainchild of President Franklin Roosevelt and his liberal New Deal advisors. In large part, it was successful because of the U.S. Army, a bastion of conservatism at the time, and more specifically, because of the efforts of the anti-New Deal Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur. It was an interesting match made out of necessity. 

Join MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams for a discussion of MacArthur and the CCC.

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On November 29, 1952, a 22-year-old CIA operative named Jack Downey was shot down over China while taking part in an air drop. Four successive Administrations refused to acknowledge his connection to the CIA. Without this acknowledgement, Downey spent 21 years as a POW - the longest-held POW in American history. His treatment in prison was largely dictated by the events of the Korean War and the Cold War. Barry Werth, author of Prisoner of Lies: Jack Downey’s Cold War, joined the MacArthur Memorial Podcast to discuss Jack Downey's experience. 

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In late July 1944, President Roosevelt met with General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The future of the war in the Pacific was discussed at this Pearl Harbor Conference, or Pacific Strategy Conference as it is also called. It was not a "real" conference in the sense that it did not include Admiral Ernest King or General George Marshall, but it was a very consequential meeting. Recently, MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams sat down to discuss what happened before, during, and after the meeting.

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In this latest episode, MacArthur Memorial historians Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams answer some of the more popular and/or unique questions about General MacArthur we have received from MacArthur Memorial Podcast listeners and on social media.

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On June 18, 1945, one month shy of his 59th birthday, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. became the most senior US military officer to be killed by enemy fire in World War II. At the time, he was leading the Tenth Army on Okinawa. Buckner kept a diary from January 1, 1944, to June 17, 1945. That diary has only recently been fully published. It is an important addition to our understanding of Buckner and the Pacific War. To discuss this diary and Buckner's service, the MacArthur Memorial Podcast hosted Christopher Kolakowski, editor of Tenth Army Commander: The Writings of Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., 1944-1945.  

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