MacArthur stayed in the U.S. Army after World War I and had a creditable career considering that it was peacetime. He was in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded and famously declared, as he abandoned the islands, that he would return. He did this, in the presence of photographers, who recorded the moment.
After World War II, MacArthur remained in Japan to administer the occupation and was widely acclaimed for his role in rebuilding the country and launching it on the road to democracy. When North Korean invaded the south in 1950, he was given command of the UN forces, but his aggressive attitude towards China and his willingness to risk military confrontation with that country, which he expressed publicly, put him at odds with Truman.
And in the end, Truman, who had never risen above the rank of corporal in World War I, fired a General of the Army and maintained the traditional of civilian control of the military.
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Background Information
Douglas MacArthur commanded American troops in the war against Japan, but was dismissed as commander in Korea by President Truman. From the Spanish-American War to World War II, the Philippines were governed by the United States, which fought to retake them from the Japanese after losing them in the early months of combat. The Korean War was fought by United Nations forces, primarily from the United States, against the North Korean invaders of the South, and their Chinese allies. Harry S. Truman of Missouri was FDR's surprising choice for vice-president in 1944 and became president upon Roosevelt's death in 1945.