Today’s article is a transcript of the widely held post-World War II questioning of General Douglas MacArthur, then-Commanding General, U. S. Army, on the correlation exam for military service personnel given at Harvard University in May 1939. This was the first question to be asked by a panel of observers, and MacArthur, who was then commanding general of U. S. Army Europe, was widely criticized for his response, which he was found to be “not honest or correct.”

A few days later, General MacArthur was relieved of command and relieved of all commands and duties, as a result of his poor performance on the correlation exam. His name had been dropped from the roll of officers immediately before he took this exam. The post-World War II question involved in the explanation of his poor performance involved the following:

General MacArthur, in your opinion was it reasonable for you to suggest that if we did not get our military expenditures under control we would be facing bankruptcy? In view of your testimony and the facts on your side, what are your views?

General MacArthur’s response was as follows: “Well, I do not believe that is the situation that you should expect to see, and I also am not entirely happy with the economic measures which are being taken in this country. But I don’t think that I will answer the question as to whether the government has a responsibility to keep us out of that position, because that would be a different subject than the economic questions.” General MacArthur stated that his response was an observation rather than an opinion, but he could only reply yes or no.

General MacArthur’s response to the subsequent post-World War II question addressed in the transcript: “In your opinion is it reasonable for you to anticipate that the cost of living will continue to go up in coming years, and that the prices of all commodities will go up?” This was another question to be asked by the panel. General MacArthur responded as follows:

General MacArthur’s response to this question was again quite unsatisfactory: “I suppose that is just a matter of observation on your part that we will be faced with rising prices, if that is what you are referring to.” He said that in this case the United States would have an opportunity to be able to sell its products to a price less than what it paid for them. This is one of the questions that was put to General MacArthur.

One of the interesting points regarding the correlation exam and General MacArthur is that the former commanded the Army European and Pacific divisions, while the latter commanded forces in Europe. Both divisions had a great deal of responsibility and were involved in combat during World War II, while the correlation exam was taken on the same day as the European operation.

General MacArthur was the commander of the North American division. The European and Pacific divisions, which he commanded, were in the middle of the fight against the Axis and were involved in some of the most difficult fighting of the war. It is very unlikely that General MacArthur would have allowed a test such as this to be administered on the same day as his command, since he was dealing with the results of a war effort that was still going on.

General MacArthur was actually questioned by a representative from the correlation committee, but he answered that his comments were based on his experience, not on opinions. that he had formed on the fly.

In conclusion, General MacArthur did not feel that the United States had a responsibility to keep us out of the situation we were in, so his answer was a positive no. and the general public should take his advice.