Editing Douglas MacArthur (section)

===Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers===
As [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers]] (SCAP) in Japan, MacArthur and his staff helped Japan rebuild itself, eradicate militarism and ultra-nationalism, promote political civil liberties, institute democratic government, and chart a new course that ultimately made Japan one of the world's leading industrial powers. The U.S. was firmly in control of Japan to oversee its reconstruction, and MacArthur was effectively the interim leader of Japan from 1945 until 1948.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=39–43}} In 1946, MacArthur's staff drafted a new [[Constitution of Japan|constitution]] that renounced war and stripped the Emperor of his military authority. The constitution—which became effective on 3 May 1947—instituted a [[parliamentary system]] of government, under which the Emperor acted only on the advice of his ministers. It included [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution|Article 9]], which outlawed belligerency as an instrument of state policy and the maintenance of a standing army. The constitution also enfranchised women, guaranteed fundamental human rights, outlawed racial discrimination, strengthened the powers of Parliament and the Cabinet, and decentralized the police and local government.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=119–139}}

A major [[land reform]] was also conducted, led by [[Wolf Ladejinsky]] of MacArthur's SCAP staff. Between 1947 and 1949, approximately {{convert|4700000|acre|sigfig=3|abbr=on}}, or 38% of Japan's cultivated land, was purchased from the landlords under the government's reform program, and {{convert|4600000|acre|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} was resold to the farmers who worked them. By 1950, 89% of all agricultural land was owner-operated and only 11% was tenant-operated.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=183–192}} MacArthur's efforts to encourage trade union membership met with phenomenal success, and by 1947, 48% of the non-agricultural workforce was unionized. Some of MacArthur's reforms were rescinded in 1948 when his unilateral control of Japan was ended by the increased involvement of the State Department.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=174–183}} During the Occupation, SCAP successfully, if not entirely, abolished many of the financial coalitions known as the [[Zaibatsu]], which had previously monopolized industry.{{sfn|Schaller|1985|p=25}} Eventually, looser industrial groupings known as ''[[Keiretsu]]'' evolved. The reforms alarmed many in the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, who believed they conflicted with the prospect of Japan and its industrial capacity as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=222–224, 252–254}}

In 1947, MacArthur invited the founder and first executive director of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU), [[Roger Nash Baldwin]], to teach the Japanese government and people about civil rights and civil liberties. MacArthur also asked him to do the same for southern Korea, which MacArthur was responsible for when it was under U.S. Army occupation. MacArthur ignored members of the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] and the FBI who believed that Baldwin was a Soviet-loving communist. He wanted a civil liberties expert to quickly introduce western-style civil rights to the Japanese and thought conservatives would take too long. Baldwin helped found the [[Japan Civil Liberties Union]]. In a confidential letter to ACLU leaders the anti-militarist and very liberal Baldwin said about MacArthur, "His observation on civil liberties and democracy rank with the best I ever heard from any civilian — and they were incredible from a general."<ref>{{cite web |last= Cottrell |first= Robert C. |date= 16 August 2019 |title= Mr. ACLU and the General |publisher= [[American Civil Liberties Union]] |url= https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/mr-aclu-and-general |access-date= 23 April 2021 |archive-date= 24 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210424202543/https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/mr-aclu-and-general |url-status= live }}</ref>

MacArthur ruled Japan with a soft-handed approach. He legalized the [[Japanese Communist Party]] despite reservations from the United States government out of a desire for Japan to be truly democratic and invited them to take part in the [[1946 Japanese general election|1946 election]], which was also the first ever election to allow women to vote. He ordered the release of all political prisoners of the Imperial Japanese era, including communist prisoners. The first May Day parade in 11 years in 1946 was greenlit by MacArthur also. On the day before the May Day celebrations, which would involve 300,000 Japanese communists demonstrating with red flags and pro-Marxism chants in front of the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]] and the [[DN Tower 21|Dai-Ichi Building]], a group of would-be assassins led by Hideo Tokayama who planned to assassinate MacArthur with hand grenades and pistols on May Day were stopped and some of its members were arrested. Despite this plot the May Day demonstrations went on. MacArthur stopped the Communist Party from gaining any popularity in Japan by releasing their members from prison, conducting landmark land reform that made MacArthur more popular than communism for the rural Japanese farmers and peasants, and allowing the communists to freely participate in elections. In the 1946 election they won only 6 seats.{{sfn|Morris|2014|pp=169–173}}<ref>{{cite news |author= <!-- staff writer --> |date= 1 May 1946 |title= M'Arthur Plot Timed for Demonstration; Plotters Still at Large |newspaper= The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/01/archives/macarthur-plot-alarms-japanese-they-see-possible-repercussions.html |url-access= subscription |access-date= 16 April 2021 |archive-date= 16 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210416060259/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/01/archives/macarthur-plot-alarms-japanese-they-see-possible-repercussions.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= <!-- staff writer --> |date= 30 April 1946 |title= Plot to Kill MacArthur Is Revealed; Seek Fugitive Chief |newspaper= The Gettysburg Times |volume= 44 |issue= 104 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19460430&id=hlJUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QzoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6993,5440992&hl=en |access-date= 16 April 2021 |via= Google Newspapers |archive-date= 16 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210416060258/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19460430&id=hlJUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QzoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6993,5440992&hl=en |url-status= live }}</ref>

MacArthur was also in charge of [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|southern Korea]] from 1945 to 1948 due to the lack of clear orders or initiative from Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Schnabel|1972|pp=13–14}} There was no plan or guideline given to MacArthur from the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the State Department on how to rule Korea so what resulted was a very tumultuous [[Operation Blacklist Forty|3 year military occupation]] that led to the creation of the U.S.-friendly [[Republic of Korea]] in 1948. He ordered Lieutenant General [[John R. Hodge]], who accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in southern Korea in September 1945, to govern that area on SCAP's behalf and report to him in Tokyo.{{sfn|Schnabel|1972|p=13}}{{sfn|Willoughby|1966a}} In an address to Congress on 19 April 1951, MacArthur declared:
{{blockquote|The Japanese people since the war have undergone the greatest reformation recorded in modern history. With a commendable will, eagerness to learn, and marked capacity to understand, they have from the ashes left in war's wake erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the supremacy of individual liberty and personal dignity, and in the ensuing process there has been created a truly representative government committed to the advance of political morality, freedom of economic enterprise, and social justice.{{sfn|Imparato|2000|p=165}}}}

MacArthur handed over power to the Japanese government in 1949 but remained in Japan until relieved by President [[Harry S. Truman]] on 11 April 1951. The [[San Francisco Peace Treaty]], signed on 8 September 1951, marked the end of the Allied occupation, and when it went into effect on 28 April 1952, Japan was once again an independent state.{{sfn|James|1985|pp=336–354}}