How U.S. Was Going to Invade Japan

In 1966, two years after the death of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. Army published the Reports of General MacArthur. Compiled by MacArthur's staff, headed by Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby and with the assistance of Prof. Gordon W. Prange, who was on leave from the University of Maryland, the Reports detailed the operations of forces under MacArthur's command in the southwest Pacific, and included a chapter on “Operation Downfall,” the planned invasion of Japan.

In announcing their publication, Gen. Harold K. Johnson, then Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, described them as “an illuminating record of momentous events influenced in large measure by a distinguished American soldier.”