As supreme commander of the U.S. Occupation of Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur had his share of faults. His temper rattled members of his staff and an open disdain for authority enraged his boss, President Harry S. Truman.
But if the rooms and offices in Japan where MacArthur sequestered himself offer any insight into his character, neither sloth nor material excess have a place on the list of his shortcomings.
Meticulously preserved, the Yokohama hotel suite where MacArthur spent the first days of the 1945-52 Occupation and the Tokyo offices where he established his General Headquarters are Spartan in their simplicity, clearly indicating the no-nonsense, workaholic nature of their former tenant. That's hardly surprising: With a new constitution to draft and political tensions coming to a head in Korea, the general would have had little time for frivolity.
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