The Philippines is American Territory where our unsupported forces were destroyed by the enemy. Practically all of the 17,000,000 Filipinos remain loyal to the United States and are undergoing the greatest privation and suffering because we have not been able to support or succor them. We have a great national obligation to discharge.
Moreover, if the United States should deliberately bypass the Philippines, leaving our prisoners, nationals, and loyal Filipinos in enemy hands without an effort to retrieve them at earliest moment, we would incur the gravest psychological reaction. We would admit the truth of Japanese propaganda to the effect that we had abandoned the Filipinos and would not shed American blood to redeem them; we would undoubtedly incur the open hostility of that people; we would probably suffer such loss of prestige among all the peoples of the Far East that it would adversely affect the United States for many years....[15]
In reply, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, cautioned MacArthur to “be careful not to let personal feelings and Philippine politics” override the great objective, which was to end the war. He also pointed out that “bypassing” was not “synonymous with abandonment.”[16]
Admiral William F. Halsey, the commander of the Third Fleet, and his staff, when they heard of the proposal, were enthusiastic about the possibility of bypassing the more immediate objectives. But in contrast to Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations, who wished to move directly to Formosa, bypassing the Philippines, Halsey felt it necessary and profitable to go into the Philippine Archipelago, which he considered to be “the vulnerable belly of the Imperial dragon.”[17] Halsey stated that when Rear Adm. Robert B. Carney, his chief of staff, was asked by King, “Do you want to make a London out of Manila?” Carney replied, “No, sir. I want to make an England out of Luzon.”[18]
CONFERENCE AT PEARL HARBOR brings together (left to right) General Douglas MacArthur, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Admiral William D. Leahy and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded that none of the currently selected objectives could be bypassed. They continued, however, to search for means by which the tempo of the war in the Pacific might be accelerated.
In the latter days of July, General Marshall invited General MacArthur to visit Pearl Harbor in order to confer with Admiral Nimitz on future plans for the war in the Pacific. MacArthur arrived on 26 July. To his surprise, the President of the United States was present. President Roosevelt invited him and Admirals Halsey and Nimitz to dinner. After dinner the President drew out a map and, pointing to Leyte, is reported to have said, “Well, Douglas, where do we go from here?”[19]
Although Mac Arthur had been given no intimation that strategy was going to be discussed, he launched into a long talk on the necessity of taking Luzon before moving against Formosa. Nimitz did not enter into the conversation. The following morning the discussions were continued. Admiral William D. Leahy, who was present, later declared: “Both General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz felt that they did not require any additional reinforcements or assistance” for the scheduled operations.[20] This Admiral Leahy considered most unusual.
Admiral Nimitz reported to Admiral King that the conferences “were quite satisfactory. The general trend of the discussion ... was along the line of seeing MacArthur into the Central Philippines....”[21]