Montgomery, MacArthur and the burden of command ego

Putting Montgomery and MacArthur in the same command structure would make cooperation extraordinarily difficult because of their egos. In this deliberately sharp comparison, Montgomery is the more consistently competent officer, while MacArthur combines occasional brilliance with serious failures. Talent alone does not make a senior subordinate manageable: personality, authority and willingness to coordinate affect whether a coalition strategy survives contact with its commanders. The joke about placing Montgomery over MacArthur sharpens the problem of matching formal hierarchy to personal power. This narrow comparison does not attempt to evaluate every campaign led by either general.