Talk:Douglas MacArthur

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Frequently asked questions

Controversies, praise, and criticism

Q1: Why isn't there a criticisms/controversies section?

A1: Because a section dedicated to criticisms and controversies is no more appropriate than a section dedicated solely to praises and is an indication of a poorly written article. Criticisms/controversies/praises should be worked into the existing prose of the article, per WP:CRIT.

Q2: Why isn't a certain controversy/criticism/praise included in this article?

A2: Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy says that "All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. This is non-negotiable and expected of all articles and all editors." Criticism or praise that cannot be reliably sourced cannot be placed in a biography. Also, including everything about MacArthur in a single article would exceed Wikipedia's article size restrictions. A number of sub-articles have been created and some controversies/criticisms/praises have been summarized here or been left out of this article altogether, but are covered in some detail in the sub-articles.

Q3: This article needs much more (or much less) criticism/controversy.

A3: Please try to assume good faith. Like all articles on Wikipedia, this article is a work in progress so it is possible for biases to exist at any point in time. If you see a bias that you wish to address, you are more than welcome to start a new discussion, or join in an existing discussion, but please be ready to provide sources to support your viewpoint and try to keep your comments civil. Starting off your discussion by accusing the editors of this article of having a bias is the quickest way to get your comment ignored.

Other issues

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A4: The restriction mentioned in WP:SIZE is 100kB of readable prose (which corresponds to about 10,000 words), not the byte count you see when you open the page for editing. As of December 2023, this article had about 19,300 words of readable prose (114 kB according to prosesize tool), which is over the limit. The rest is mainly citations and invisible comments, which do not count towards the limit.

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A5: In all probability what you added was trivia, unsourced information or information cited to an unreliable source; such information is usually removed quickly. Articles on Wikipedia require reliable sources for an independent verification of the facts presented, consequently any information added to an article without a reliable source is subject to removal from the article at any Wikipedian's discretion.

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A6: This article has been indefinitely semi-protected due to persistent vandalism or violations of content policy. Semi-protection prevents edits from anonymous users (IP addresses), as well as edits from any account that is not autoconfirmed (is at least four days old and has ten or more edits to Wikipedia) or confirmed. Such users can request edits to this article by proposing them on this talk page, using the {{editsemiprotected}} template if necessary to gain attention. They may also request the confirmed userright by visiting Requests for permissions.

Douglas MacArthur is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

Douglas MacArthur is part of the Command in the South West Pacific Area series, a featured topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on January 26, 2014.

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April 13, 2010	Good article nominee	Listed
April 21, 2010	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
May 11, 2010	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
July 7, 2012	Featured article candidate	Promoted
December 23, 2012	Good topic candidate	Promoted
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on April 11, 2004, April 11, 2005, April 11, 2006, March 20, 2013, March 20, 2016, March 20, 2020, March 20, 2022, and March 20, 2023.
Current status: Featured article

Biography: Military / Politics and Government / Science and Academia

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Section sizes

Section size for Douglas MacArthur (48 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	12,604	12,604
Early life and education	5,997	5,997
Junior officer	4,714	4,714
Veracruz expedition	2,346	2,346
World War I	17	16,913
Rainbow Division	3,003	3,003
Lunéville-Baccarat Defensive sector	2,308	2,308
Champagne-Marne offensive	4,908	4,908
Battle of Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensive	6,677	6,677
Between the wars	22	28,383
Superintendent of the United States Military Academy	4,739	4,739
Army's youngest major general	5,165	5,165
Chief of Staff	5,209	10,933
Bonus Army	3,377	3,377
New Deal	2,347	2,347
Field Marshal of the Philippine Army	7,524	7,524
World War II	17	48,966
Philippines campaign (1941–1942)	330	18,140
Defense of the Philippines	10,587	10,587
Escape from the Philippines	1,700	1,700
Medal of Honor	5,523	5,523
New Guinea Campaign	59	14,933
General Headquarters	3,790	3,790
Papuan Campaign	3,384	3,384
New Guinea Campaign	7,700	7,700
Philippines Campaign (1944–45)	85	15,876
Leyte	5,571	5,571
Luzon	7,698	7,698
Southern Philippines	2,522	2,522
Occupation of Japan	57	24,917
Protecting the Emperor	7,865	7,865
War crimes trials	2,480	2,480
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers	9,723	9,723
1948 presidential election	4,792	4,792
Korean War	39	23,890
South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu	9,680	9,680
China enters the war	5,926	5,926
Removal from command	8,245	8,245
Later life	12,840	12,840
Death and legacy	12,994	19,388
Honors and awards	4,194	4,194
Portrayals	2,200	2,200
Dates of rank	2,611	2,611
Bibliography	2,214	2,214
Notes	8,862	8,862
References	24,981	24,981
Further reading	4,008	4,008
External links	6,848	6,848
Total	250,482	250,482

Why are dates on this article in DD/MM/YYYY?[edit]

This is a page on an American general, so shouldn't the page be in MM/DD/YYYY? Fringe, Suspect The (talk) 20:38, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

MOS:MILFORMAT: articles on the modern US military, including biographical articles related to the modern US military, should use day-before-month, in accordance with US military usage. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:17, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks Fringe, Suspect The (talk) 02:15, 14 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

MacArthur's Masonic Lodge membership[edit]

At the end of "Field Marshal of the Philippine Army" and just before the section on World War II are these two sentences:

In Manila, MacArthur was a member of the Freemasons. At the time of the occupation of Japan, MacArthur belonged to Manila Lodge No. 1 and was in the 32nd Masonic rank.

In the second sentence, should the first clause be: "At the time of the occupation BY Japan"? If not, I'm baffled as to how MacArthur's Masonic Lodge affiliation in Manila would have any relevance to the occupation OF Japan--especially since his time in Tokyo would certainly have taken away from any time he could spend in Manila. Rontrigger (talk) 06:03, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You're right. Please check the edit I made. — hako9 (talk) 17:44, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good. Rontrigger (talk) 01:19, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 7 May 2024[edit]

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Change "was in the 32nd Masonic rank" to "was a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason". The phrasing of the original excerpt is incorrect and not used by any regular Masonic body Masonicscribe (talk) 14:49, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done — hako9 (talk) 17:42, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mistake in Death and Legacy section[edit]

It states 'In 1960, the mayor of Norfolk had proposed using funds raised by public contribution to remodel the old Norfolk City Hall as a memorial to General MacArthur and as a repository for his papers', but MacArthur died in 1964? 96.242.5.154 (talk) 00:04, 11 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

MacArthur Memorial indicates that the Mayor and the General agreed to having the site as a repository for his papers. Perhaps the wording can be adjusted here to make it clearer, but the date appears to be correct --John (User:Jwy/talk) 00:25, 11 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]