History - Past and Perspective
MacArthur Makes a New Japan
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MacArthur Makes a New Japan

After Japan capitulated in WWII, Douglas MacArthur, drawing on years of experience in the Orient, guided the country to peace and progress. ...
Steve Byas
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

When the Second World War ended with Japan’s crushing military defeat in 1945, Japan was in a horrific condition. Phone, power, and sewer services were nearly non-existent. Thirteen million were unemployed — one-seventh of the country. Five million Japanese had perished. Fifteen million were homeless, with 700,000 homes destroyed in Tokyo alone. 

The average adult was living on a meager 1,000 calories a day — if that. 

Despite such utter devastation, Japan eventually emerged from its total defeat and devastation to take its place today as the world’s third-largest economy. While several factors are involved in Japan’s rise from the ashes, like the Phoenix of Greek mythology, and much credit should, of course, go to the people of Japan themselves, one man stands out as most responsible for this amazing recovery — General Douglas MacArthur.

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