The Return

MacArthur finally returned to the Philippines in October 1944, accompanied by fifty-eight correspondents—the largest number to join a Pacific invasion at that stage of the war. Initially, the campaign to retake the island of Luzon did not go well, but a combination of MacArthur’s optimistic communiqués and a major naval victory in the Battle of Leyte Gulf ensured that his return contributed to Roosevelt’s reelection victory a month later. After the invasion of Leyte in January 1945 led first to the liberation of the camps containing Bataan death march survivors and then to the bloody slaughter during the battle for Manila, the home front’s animosity toward Japan hardened.