170 e lusive v ictories
Here the politics began. MacArthur had many friends among Amer-
ican conservatives, and if he voiced complaint about the abandonment
of his Philippine forces (an outcome long expected in American war
planning), the administration could face a fi restorm of criticism at a
time when American military fortunes were at low ebb. Better, then, to
secure the general’s silence by portraying him as a hero (hence his Con-
gressional Medal of Honor) and giving him a command far from the
center of press attention (hence he would operate from Australia). His-
torian Eric Larrabee succinctly captures the president’s problem with
his most egomaniacal general: having built up the MacArthur legend,
Roosevelt could not thereafter undo it. He would have to live with
MacArthur, headaches and all, and manage him.
Th e military situation the president and his advisors faced in the fi rst
months of the war was bleak. Th e Japanese followed up their successful
opening air attacks with a bold off ensive that brought them control not
only over the Philippines but also Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Neth-
erlands East Indies, and a number of Pacifi c Islands such as New Britain
(with its important harbor at Rabaul) and Papua New Guinea.
Convinced that the United States lacked the stomach for a long war,
the Japanese strategists sought to establish a thick defensive shell, its
outer perimeter far from their homeland. Th is would force the U.S.
military to exhaust itself in costly battles until the American gov-
ernment agreed to sue for peace on terms that would leave Japan in
possession of the strategic resources it needed. Japan’s capture of Burma
also isolated China by land, so that supplies to Chiang Kai-shek’s forces
could only be delivered via a diffi cult air route. By spring 1942, the
Japanese had advanced far enough to threaten vital lines of communi-
cations between the United States and Australia.
On the other side of the world, the Germans had been thrown back
in their attempt to capture Moscow in late 1941, but American and
British leaders still doubted whether the Soviet Union could survive.
England, having been spared from a possible invasion when Hitler
turned east, continued to face heavy bombing raids. In the Middle East
German and Italian forces battled British Empire troops in Libya, while
the two sides fought for control of the Mediterranean shipping lanes.
Wide-ranging U-boat attacks that extended as far as the American East
Coast and Caribbean infl icted mounting losses on Allied shipping. I n