velt's description---"a date which will live in infamy" (7). So brutal was the Japanese attack that war was declared by Congress the next day, less than an hour after Roosevelt's speech. The forty-four month war which would follow was marked, from the American side, by strong emotional forces which led to the abovementioned abandonment of principles, the bombing of civilian targets, the dropping of the atomic bombs on two cities, etc. MacArthur arrived to look over his most advanced outpost. . . . "He gazed out to the northwest," one aide recalls, "almost as though he could already see through the mist the rugged lines of Bataan and Corregidor. 'They are waiting for me there,' he said. 'It has been a long time'" (294). Spector also makes clear that some victories on the part of the Americans were as much good luck as good planning and execution. Some of these victories, as well, are shown by the author to have been more avoidances of catastrophe. Spector describes one such fortunate example: Still, at moments, Spector is able to give the reader some of the emotional background of the war and of the major personalities on both sides. Spector in one such interlude describes the personal involvement of United States General Douglas MacArthur: Spector analyzes not only the broad historical issues of the war, but also focuses on such specific elements as the states of mind of the military organizations on both sides. Spector makes clear that the outcome of the war depended on the flexibility of the American military and its ability to alter traditional military thinking to fit the contingencies of the war: Spector, Ronald H. Eagle Against the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1985. Of course, MacArthur there is referring to the promise he made to return to the Philippines after having been driven out by the Japanese. The moment is significant because it symbolizes American determination to carry on the fight as long as it took in order to avenge the Japanese att |
