On April 11, 1951, President Harry Truman backed by the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff relieved Douglas MacArthur, a five-star general who had responsibility for command of the United Nation Troops (primarily American) in Korea. This abrupt dismissal of one of the great heroes of World War II created a storm of controversy. Ultimately, the tradition in American government that the military is subordinate to the civilian leaders prevailed. America, including my own family, was divided over whether Truman was soft on communism. Admirers of Truman countered that the President sought to avoid World War III while containing aggression. When Truman left office in 1952, his public approval ratings were 23%, a low for any presiding President. The American public was bitterly disappointed that despite great sacrifice the communist menace remained on a global scale. 

General MacArthur (1880-1964) displayed both brilliance and naiveté during the Korean War. That is, his landing of troops on the Inchon Peninsula totally disrupted the North Korean troops leading to their disintegration as a fighting force. Within a short time, United Nation Troops occupied almost all of North Korea, pushing to the Yalu River that borders China. Despite protests from the communist government of China, MacArthur totally dismissed the possibility of Chinesse intervention. When hundreds of thousands of “Chinesse” volunteers attacked the United Nation forces, the later were forced hastily back into South Korea.

 

After the Chinesse entered the war—something MacArthur had assured Truman would never happen—Mac Arthur wrote to Speaker of House Republican Joe Martin saying the United States could only win by an all-out war, and this meant bombing (including possibly using atomic bombs) the Manchurian bases that supported the Chinesse Army. Harry Truman felt strongly that MacArthur had, thereby, violated the American constitution that commits control of foreign policy to the president not to the military. 

 

On April 19, General MacArthur addressed a joint session of Congress. His passionate defense of his actions and his lifetime devotion to his country left an indelible mark on the nation. While he never received the Republican nomination to be their representative for President, he remained the darling of conservatives. His speech is excerpted here.

 

I do not stand here as advocates for any partisan cause, for he issues are fundamental and reach quite beyond the realm of partisan considerations. They must be resolved on the highest plane of national interest if our course is to prove sound and our future protected.

 

I address you with neither rancor nor bitterness in the fading twilight of life, with but one purpose in mind: to serve my country.

 

The Communist threat is a global one. Its successful advance in one sector threatens the destruction of every other sector. You cannot appear or otherwise surrender to communism in Asia without simultaneously undermining our efforts to halt its advance in Europe.

 

Efforts have been made to distort my position. It has been said in effect that I was a warmonger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing in me is more revolting…. Once war is forced upon us no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. 

 

In war there is no substitute for victory.

 

I have just left your fighting sons in Korea. They have met all tests there, and I can report to you without reservation that they are splendid in every way.

 

I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams.

 

The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barracks ballads of that day which proclaimed that old soldiers never die; they just fade away.