ABSTRACT
In an organization as large and complex as the armed forces the prescribed career line gives the young officer a concrete image of the successful military professional. The heroic leaders who gave dramatic leadership to strategic and operational commands were represented by such men as "Bull" Halsey, George Patton, Jonathan Wainwright, James Doolittle, and Curtis LeMay. Yet, in World War II contradictory images of the military elite were represented by the contrast between George Marshall, the prototype of the military manager, and Douglas MacArthur, who fused both roles, but who often performed as the heroic fighter. In 1943 Walter Millis, the military historian, wrote a perceptive introduction to a book, entitled These Are the Generals, whose table of contents could be taken as one indicator of the elite nucleus at the midpoint of World War II. The rule-breaking military leader of unconventional background has a long history in American military affairs.
