The General vs. the President by H.W. Brands

“I think the enduring legacy is that Truman took a great political risk, and he did it immediately to prevent World War III, but also to prove the principle that civilian elected officials are above military officials, however grand and decorated they may be,” he says. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War,” tells HISTORY that Truman’s decision had far-reaching implications beyond just the conduct of the Korean War. Brands, author of the new book “The General vs. Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group / Getty Images Fearing that such an approach risked a massively expanded war in Asia and even the start of World War III-with the Soviet Union coming to the aid of China-Truman clashed repeatedly with MacArthur before finally dismissing him. Still upset that MacArthur had mistakenly assured him during a face-to-face meeting on Wake Island that the communist government of China would not intervene on behalf of North Korea, Truman favored a “limited war.” MacArthur, however, publicly advocated the more expansive use of American military power, including the bombing of China, employment of Nationalist Chinese forces from Formosa (Taiwan) and the possible use of nuclear weapons. The tension that had been mounting for months between the modest president and the egotistical general went beyond mere personality differences. “With deep regret I have concluded that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties,” the president said. Truman thought it nothing less than “rank insubordination,” and five days later he delivered the shocking news to the American people that he had relieved MacArthur of his command and replaced him with General Matthew Ridgway. forces in the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur, had gone public with his differences with the commander in chief over the conduct of the war-this time in a letter to House Republican Leader Joseph Martin. “This looks like the last straw,” a seething President Harry Truman scrawled in his diary on April 6, 1951.

The General vs. the President by H.W. Brands