The Evening Star (September 4, 1945)
Lawrence: MacArthur’s words on surrender hailed
He articulated the American ideal
By David Lawrence
No more eloquent or more fitting series of sentences have been uttered since the famous Gettysburg address of Abraham Lincoln than the brief but penetrating phrases spoken by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in his address on the battleship Missouri just before the surrender papers were signed by Japan.
There was transcendent meaning in the words of the Supreme Allied Commander as he articulated the American ideal – in fact, the democratic ideal – and one could not help but feel that someone high up on the Allied side should have said the same thing when the Germans laid down their arms. For their sin was no bigger nor any less than that of the Japanese aggressors, and what Gen. MacArthur said is what must be said if victors and vanquished are to lay the foundations of a permanent peace.
There was no note of cheap exultation nor was there the slightest trace of swashbuckling in the whole ceremony. Gen. MacArthur’s words, so well chosen for the occasion, could be pondered alike by the Japanese as well as other peoples.
Worth repeating
The first paragraph is worth repeating:
We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues, involving divergent ideals and ideologies, have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the peoples of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone benefits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all of our peoples unreservedly to faithful compliance with the undertakings they are here formally to assume.
As Gen. MacArthur thereupon called for a “world founded upon faith and understanding – a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish – for freedom, tolerance and justice,” the Allied spokesman was reflecting clearly the democratic ideal and, indeed, the historic centuries-old Judeo-Christian ideal.
The greatness of the speech was not just its words but the pledge behind them – our pledge to encourage freedom and tolerance and justice inside the Japanese empire and to expect in return a new spirit of freedom and tolerance and justice in international relationships.
Bigger job ahead
There are many persons in the world who only a few weeks ago were calling for military annihilation and further fighting even as the Japanese offered to surrender. The wisdom of President Truman and his advisers in letting the Emperor institution remain as a means of enforcing early surrender without more bloodshed has been confirmed. Now it remains for America to utilize the existing institutions in Japan to change the whole character and attitude of the Japanese people toward world peace. To accomplish that job, militarism must be eradicated and war criminals hanged as an example.
Gen. MacArthur is essentially a cautious man. He will proceed slowly but surely. He has the tremendous responsibility now of punishing the brute commanders who tortured our prisoners and the militarists who have been assassinating liberals and committing the whole Japanese people to fanatical warfare.
But he has also the task of helping to construct a new Japan in the Far East – a Japan that will be friendly to the United States and not vengeful. For with the clamor of parents for our troops and sailors to come home, the method of enforcing a stern peace that ignores the interests of the enemy people would, in the long run, require a permanent occupation force. This would not be sanctioned by democracies and, even if it were, that method has never proved effective in building friendship.
The cry for “unconditional surrender” has been satisfied. Now comes the bigger job of keeping the peace won – and it cannot be done by the sword alone. It must be done “with justice and tolerance” for that is the real way to build firmly the foundations of mutual good will.