Even the most god-like commanders are not, in practice, im-
mortal, and I should have thought it would be a good thing...for the United Nations to appoint a deputy commander-in-chief to their forces in Korea. I imagine it might not be an easy appoint- ment to make. From the shop-window point of view the officer selected ought obviously not to be an American ; yet if General MacArthur became a casualty (and even V.I.P.'s aircraft are obedient to the laws of gravity), his deputy would find himself in command of predominantly American forces and served by an all-American staff. It would, all the same, be a useful step. General MacArthur's personality and methods have produced, since the war, a vague impression that Japan and everything to do with that part of the Pacific is his business and nobody else's ; and although this impression is not wholly just, I think it does affect some people's attitude to the Korean war, and anything likely to modify it would be to the good. if he had a deputy he might, too, be able to make arrangements for the heads of diplomatic missions to have some contact with his headquarters. His present discourteous and un- accommodating attitude to them seems rather childish.
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