C. Northcote Parkinson Quotes
It is better to be a has-been than a never-was.
MacArthur was not difficult and unaccepting of higher authority just in the Korean War. He was dissatisfied with American strategy in WWII. He was very unhappy with the decision that placed defeat of Germany and Hitler as a higher priority than his defeat of Japan. He perceived himself as the most qualified and senior American military man and resented the fact that others were making the big strategic decisions and not acceding to his views sufficiently. Also, Dwight Eisenhower had been appointed as Supreme Commander of the European Front which had the highest priority. MacArthur, a man with a huge ego, saw Eisenhower, who had served under MacArthur earlier, as a competent “junior” officer. See {605728} for insight into has view of Eisenhower. While it was certainly true that if given more gasoline, men and armaments, McArthur could have done more and faster, it would have to be taken from the effort to subjugate Germany which would have had to slow down.
Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some 60 books, the most famous of which was his best-seller Parkinson's Law (1957), in which Parkinson advanced Parkinson's law, stating that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion", an insight which led him to be regarded as an important scholar in public administration and management.
