moral dangers

General Douglas MacArthur retired from the U.S. Army under a cloud of controversy. He had written a letter critical of President Harry S. Truman, and it was made public. The Joint Chiefs cleared MacArthur of insubordination, but he was relieved of his command over the U.N. forces in Korea. Yet the General came home to hero's welcome. Some may disagree, but his record of dedication, achievement, patriotism and faith remains distinct among America's great military leaders.

Serving 52 years, MacArthur was senior officer in two of the three wars he fought, served as Army Chief of Staff, received the Congressional Medal of Honor, attained the rank of General of the Army (5 stars), and much, much more. On December 12, 1951, the Salvation Army presented him with their "Award for Services to Humanity." McArthur took the occasion to warn them of the evil he saw in the real threat of Communism:

History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual reawakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster...

Evil forces...seek to remove religion...to undermine public and private morals... It first assays to make traitors among those of high degree and through them... destroy nations and bend peoples to its malevolent will. Its plan is to abolish private property and free enterprise in order to secure the degree of power over material things necessary to render absolute its power to suppress the spiritual things. It first establishes collectivism as the idealistic refuge for those who lack the will and the courage and the capacity for self-expression. This is the half-way point on the direct and undeviating road to full Communism... This is how it has happened before and it can happen again...

Tolerance of this destructive force of evil should be replaced by an implacable and uncompromising determination to resist its every threat... We must condemn those who would corrupt the principles of individual liberty, freedoms' mighty instrument of spiritual power... We must refuse to indulge those who are so blind that they will not see the moral dangers now threatening the engulfment of our people... We must face the gravity of the times honestly and fearlessly so that our beloved country may survive...

This will not be easy... Our great strength rests in... patriotic Americans whose faith in God and love of country transcends all selfish and self-serving instincts. We must command their maximum effort toward a restoration of... our age-old standards of morality and ethics - a return to the religious fervor which animated our leadership of former years... (General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964, Edward T. Imparato, pp. 197-198, in part on Google Books; Online bios here, here).