New developments and competing ideas, especially from his nemesis par excellence Admiral Ernest King, who detested MacArthur and ardently opposed major operations in the Philippines in favor of invading Formosa and perhaps even directly the Japanese home islands, could easily evaporate past intentions. Moreover, MacArthur hankered to liberate the heart of the archipelago, and that really meant Luzon, the foremost island, where the capital, Manila, his onetime home, beckoned like a long-lost lover. In
