MacArthur Page #6

Here is the caisson

of Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

now making the turn off of 15th

Street into Pennsylvania Avenue.

God give me strength to do this.

And there is

the flag-draped coffin.

The horses with black blankets

under their saddles.

The horses on

the right side, unmounted.

And it's moving ever so slowly

as the crowd stands

to pay their last respects

to the man who was their leader,

their commander in chief,

and their friend.

Mr. President.

Hello, General.

We need your authorization.

What have you got?

Well, the president...

Mr. Roosevelt never told me.

They never told me.

We spent months of staff time,

tens of millions of

dollars in preparation

for the greatest

invasion in history,

and when we're primed and ready,

they send an Air Force officer

to tell me they've

constructed this apparatus.

General, what happens

if it doesn't work?

What happens if it does?

Yes?

Excuse me, Admiral Halsey, the

representatives are all on board, sir.

The British

commander of Singapore

has just been released

from a prison camp.

Percival. Good, good. What

about that Russian fellow?

General Derevyanko. He's here.

What gall. The Soviets

declared war after we'd won it,

and now they wanna

horn in on the surrender.

There's someone else

here, too, sir.

General.

Jim.

General.

Jim.

I'm so glad to see you.

General Wainwright, I don't

think you know Admiral Halsey.

Welcome aboard, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Jonathan, good to see you.

Yes, yes, of course.

And Admiral Nimitz.

General.

Admiral.

Come and sit down, Jim.

I'm sorry.

No, no, don't talk like that.

I've disgraced you and the army.

You have not.

That's not true.

We were starving.

You don't have to

say anything, Jim.

I had to shoot my horse.

I realize they'll never

restore me to active duty.

That's not true, Jim. You

can have whatever you want.

Command of a corps.

That's all I want.

Your old corps is yours

whenever you're ready, General.

Sid, what did I do with Jean's pen?

Yes, sir?

Here we go, sir.

We are gathered here, representatives

of the major warring powers,

to conclude a solemn agreement

whereby peace may be restored.

The issues have been determined

upon the battlefields of the world,

and hence, are not for our

discussion or debate.

The representative of

the Emperor of Japan,

and of the Japanese

Imperial General headquarters,

now sign the instrument

of surrender.

General Sutherland, will you

show him where to sign, please?

The supreme commander

of the Allied powers

will now sign on behalf of all

the nations at war with Japan.

Will Generals Percival and

Wainwright come forward, please?

The representative of the United

States of America will now sign.

The representative of the

Republic of China will now sign.

The representative of the

United Kingdom will now sign.

The representative of

Canada will now sign.

The representative of France...

The representative

of Australia will now sign.

The representative of the

Netherlands will now sign.

The representative

of New Zealand will now sign.

The representative of the Union

of Soviet Socialist Republics

will now sign.

Today,

the guns are silent.

A great tragedy has ended.

I speak for the thousands

of silent lips forever stilled

among the jungles

and the beaches

and in the deep waters of the

Pacific which marked the way.

I pray that

an omnipotent providence

will summon

all persons of goodwill

to the realization of

the utter futility of war.

We have known

the bitterness of defeat,

the exultation of triumph,

and from both we have learned

that there can be

no turning back.

We must go forward to preserve

in peace what we won in war.

The destructiveness

of the war potential

through progressive advances

in scientific discovery

has, in fact,

now reached a point

which revises the

traditional concept of war.

War,

the most malignant scourge

and greatest sin of mankind,

can no longer be controlled,

only abolished.

We are in a new era.

If we do not devise some greater

and more equitable means

of settling disputes

between nations,

Armageddon will be at our door.

We have had our last chance.

Court, I want you to tell

Washington that I'm transferring food

and medical supplies

to the Japanese authorities.

Yes, sir.

The next priority is

to get those men home,

get them to work

rebuilding this country.

I don't know. In terms of communication,

transport, industrial plant,

there isn't any country.

Yeah, well, they'll

have to build a new one.

A new Japan with new ideas, but

preserving the best of the old.

Yes, sir.

All of our troops

will be judged by me

for their conduct

as men and as soldiers.

I want them to

understand that the Japanese

must be treated with

courtesy and respect.

Alexander, Caesar,

Napoleon all failed

as occupiers of

conquered countries

because of the harshness

of their policies.

I do not intend to fail.

We're coming up

on the palace now.

I wonder whether it wouldn't be a

good idea to summon the emperor

to explain your policies.

Show of authority

to the Japanese people.

No. No.

After a lifetime of studying

the Oriental mind,

I can tell you that

I must not directly

challenge the authority

of the emperor.

He lives there in that palace across

that moat, half god, half king.

His decrees limit the degree

of each man's freedom.

His word is absolute.

The time will come when

Hirohito, of his own volition,

will cross that moat

and come to me,

and that will mark the beginning

of the end of his absolute power

over the Japanese people.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning, Court.

Morning, gentlemen. I've been going

over these additional suggestions

from the State Department

on the occupation.

I have to work them in with our

own task force recommendations.

General Marquat, what's

happening with land reform?

The landowners are having difficulty

with their tenant farmers.

Oh, they are?

Well, I don't wanna ever hear

the word "tenant farmer" again.

I want these privileged landowners

stripped of their holdings.

We'll break up

these great estates.

Yes, sir, but...

They've been squeezing

the farmers dry far too long.

But, sir, they're very strong.

Are they strong, sir.

They may not be as

strong as they think.

And the right-wing

industrialists,

now, they are the fellows

who led this country to ruin.

I want them expunged.

Expunged, sir?

Don't you think that you...

All in the best possible

legal language, of course.

I want to see a labor

movement take root.

Labor movement?

That's right.

The workers must have a strong

voice in the means of production.

General, pardon me, but this

reminds me somewhat of...

Well, it's like...

Like what?

Like the New Deal.

Ah.

Well, this is Japan,

not America.

But considering

her fascist past,

it might be good to move her just a

little left of center, don't you agree?

Yes, sir.

Of course, we wouldn't

call it the New Deal.

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