The sophistry emanating from Tokyo was dazzling in its desperation. MacArthur, wrote journalist and historian David Halberstam, had “lost face not just before the entire world, but before his own troops, and perhaps most important of all, before himself.” And so, to preserve the illusion of omniscience, MacArthur had spun an elaborate retroactive fiction. Reconnaissance in force—that was Tokyo’s new incantation.
