by H. W. Brands
“The situation in Far East”: Truman diary, April 8, 1951, Truman Papers.
“Whatever his action”: Acheson, Present at the Creation, 522; Truman, Memoirs, 2:508.
The critical meeting occurred: Truman, Memoirs, 2:508; Acheson, Present at the Creation, 522; Bradley and Blair, General’s Life, 635.
CHAPTER 50
“I got a double talk”: Bradley and Blair, General’s Life, 636.
“Said there had been a leak”: Truman diary, on page dated April 9 but referring to events of April 10, 1951, Truman Papers.
“He got hold of me”: Theodore Tannenwald oral history, Truman Library.
“With deep regret”: Truman statement and order, April 11, 1951, Public Papers.
CHAPTER 51
“Wednesday, April 11”: Whitney, MacArthur, 470.
“Well, General”: Ridgway, Soldier, 220.
“that the President”: Michael Schaller, Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General (1989), 239–40.
“He was entirely himself”: Ridgway, Soldier, 223.
“I am afraid”: Sebald diary, April 8, 1951, Sebald Papers.
“Refused to believe it at first”: Ibid., April 11, 1951.
CHAPTER 52
“The question we have had to face”: Truman radio address, April 11, 1951, Public Papers.
CHAPTER 53
“Quite an explosion”: Truman diary, on page dated April 10 but referring to events of April 11, 1951, Truman Papers.
“Your action toward MacArthur”: Lindsey Williams to Truman, April 11, 1951, Truman Papers.
“You have sold us out”: Elisabeth Wood to Truman, April 12, 1951, Truman Papers.
“General MacArthur has probably forgotten”: Dorothy Weir to Truman, April 11, 1951, Truman Papers.
5,000 telegrams: New York Times, April 13, 1951.
Editorial opinion was mixed: Sampling of editorials, New York Times, April 12, 1951.
CHAPTER 54
“Court, please arrange”: Whitney, MacArthur, 479–80.
MacArthur, accompanied by Jean and Arthur: Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1951; New York Times, April 16, 1951.
“As I looked down”: Whitney, MacArthur, 480.
CHAPTER 55
“The Bataan is making”: Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1951; New York Times, April 18, 1951.
“But there was one thing”: Washington Post, April 20, 1951.
“I stand on this rostrum”: MacArthur address to joint session of Congress, April 19, 1951, transcript in New York Times, April 20, 1951, and Washington Post, April 20, 1951; radio recording on YouTube.
CHAPTER 56
“Welcome home, Mac!”: New York Times, April 21, 1951; Washington Post, April 21, 1951.
“Today The New York Times”: New York Times, April 21, 1951.
“Are you in a position”: Truman news conference, April 26, 1951, Public Papers.
“very little”: New York Times, May 3, 1951.
CHAPTER 57
“We are opening hearings”: New York Times, May 4, 1951; Washington Post, May 4, 1951; Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1951.
CHAPTER 58
“As I recollect it”: New York Times, May 5, 1951; Washington Post, May 5, 1951; Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1951.
“General MacArthur, I wish to state”: New York Times, May 6, 1951.
CHAPTER 59
“It is a very distressing necessity”: New York Times, May 8, 1951.
“At the time the foregoing statement”: New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, May 9–10, 1951.
“Do you have a prepared statement”: New York Times, June 2, 1951.
“At the very outset”: New York Times, May 16, 1951; Washington Post, May 16, 1951.
CHAPTER 60
“There are 35 Russian divisions”: Declassified transcript of MacArthur hearings, 2579, Record Group 46, National Archives.
“What would happen”: Ibid., 2580–83.
“The Air Force part”: Ibid., 3948–52.
“They have not used air”: Ibid., 2311.
“We are fighting”: Ibid., 2436.
“You made the statement”: Ibid., 3945–46.
“The next thing”: Ibid., 1300–1302.
“When the first recommendations”: Ibid., 3124.
“Do you have any indication”: Ibid., 1732–33.
“We were highly skeptical”: Ibid., 3217.
“The trouble of it is”: Ibid., 2506–7.
“We do not feel”: Ibid., 2341.
CHAPTER 61
“For the past seven weeks”: New York Times, June 28, 1951.
And MacArthur never found out: The redacted portions of the transcript of the hearings were not released until more than a decade after MacArthur’s death.
CHAPTER 62
“purely a Pace thought”: Frank Pace oral history, Truman Library.
“double-crossed”: Robert J. Donovan, Tumultuous Years: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1949–1953 (1982), 355.
“happy to witness”: New York Times, May 13, 1951.
“One of the greatest influences”: New York Times, June 8, 1951.
“I am no stranger”: New York Times, May 1, 1951.
“Some, with me”: New York Times, June 14, 15 and 16, 1951.
“I shall raise my voice”: General MacArthur: Speeches and Reports, 1908–1964, comp. Edward T. Imparato (2000), 179–81.
CHAPTER 63
“Mr. President”: Truman news conference, June 28, 1951, Public Papers.
“No comment”: Truman news conference, July 26, 1951, Public Papers.
Truman named MacArthur: Truman address, Sept. 4, 1951, Public Papers.
“Not based on fact”: Truman news conference, Oct. 18, 1951, Public Papers.
The State Department surveyed: Daily Opinion Summary, Department of State, May 7, 1951, Elsey Papers.
The White House staff tallied: Memo for the President by William J. Hopkins, May 8, 1951, Truman Papers.
“I don’t like to be”: Elsey to Harriman and Murphy, May 29, 1951, Elsey Papers.
“Thirteen men gather”: W. V. Myers to Truman, June 15, 1951, Truman Papers.
CHAPTER 64
“I am not a candidate”: Truman diary, April 16, 1950, in Ferrell, Off the Record, 177–78.
22 percent: “Presidential Approval Ratings—Gallup Historical Statistics and Trends,” www.gallup.com.
CHAPTER 65
“When you put on a uniform”: New York Times, April 12, 1951.
“I was sorry”: Donovan, Tumultuous Years, 361.
“Most of the senior officers”: Eisenhower, At Ease, 213.
“I’ve not been so upset”: Robert H. Ferrell, ed., The Eisenhower Diaries (1981), 214.
CHAPTER 66
“with the overwhelming support”: New York Times, Oct. 18, 1951.
“It is about time”: James, MacArthur, 3:645.
“the pro-Soviet forces”: New York Times, March 20, 1952.
The plane landed just past five: Washington Post, July 8, 1952.
“It is a trick”: Video of NBC News coverage of MacArthur address, July 7, 1952, C-SPAN, www.c-span.org.
CHAPTER 67
“That job requires”: New York Times, Oct. 25, 1952.
“Mr. President”: Truman news conference, Dec. 11, 1952, Public Papers.
“That at such conference”: “Memorandum on Ending the Korean War,” in MacArthur, Reminiscences, 411; James, MacArthur, 3:653–54.
“We had a very enjoyable lunch”: New York Times, Dec. 18, 1952.
“From that day to this”: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 414.
“The trouble with Eisenhower”: Peter Lyon, Eisenhower (1974), 500.
“We dropped the word”: Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change, 1953–1956 (1963), 181.
CHAPTER 68
“He’ll sit here”: Robert H. Ferrell, Harry S. Truman: A Life (1994), 379.
“I fired him”: Miller, Plain Speaking, 287.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. A New York Times best-selling author, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography for The First American and Traitor to His Class.
Douglas MacArthur at the height of his powers, in the moment of victory over Japan. Credit 1
The surrender ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, where the Japanese answered to MacArthur and MacArthur answered to God. Credit 2
This former insurance building became MacArthur’s headquarters during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. Credit 3
Where MacArthur lived longer than anywhere else during his professional life: the American Embassy in Tokyo. Credit 4
Victor and vanquished: MacArthur and Hirohito. Credit 5
Harry Truman as vice-president elect. Henry Wallace (right), whom Truman was replacing, didn’t appreciate Truman’s coming between him and the ailing Franklin Roosevelt (left). Wallace would create problems for Truman in due course. Credit 6
The family man, with Bess (left) and Margaret (right). Credit 7
The Berlin airlift kept these children fed and West Berlin free and gave the world a new appreciation for Harry Truman. Credit 8
The ones he trusted most: Secretary of State Dean Acheson (left) and General (and serially Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense) George Marshall (center). Credit 9
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Omar Bradley (far left) served Truman well, but Defense Secretary Louis Johnson (between Bradley and Truman) caused no end of trouble. Credit 10
Truman’s press conferences were crowded and informal. He liked them that way, but sometimes he said too much. Credit 11
The North Korean attack on South Korea in June 1950 rapidly led to the fall of Seoul and the flight of many thousands of refugees. Credit 12
U.S. troops thrown into the breach had serious difficulty finding their footing. Credit 13
Journalist Maggie Higgins fought her way to the front to get the story of what was happening there. Credit 14
At MacArthur’s insistence, the Eighth Army dug in and held at the Naktong River. Credit 15
MacArthur launched his great September counteroffensive at Inchon, in the face of resistance from the North Korean army and skepticism from Washington. Credit 16
The surprise landings succeeded splendidly, as MacArthur learned in detail at this briefing on the third day of the offensive. Credit 17
North Korean troops surrendered in large numbers, and MacArthur had a look. Credit 18
From Inchon the Eighth Army raced north to cut off and destroy the fleeing enemy. Credit 19
MacArthur’s forces recrossed the Han River en route to liberating Seoul. Credit 20
Waving aside Washington’s objections, MacArthur personally reinstalled South Korean president Syngman Rhee in Seoul. Credit 21
From Seoul to Pyongyang required but three weeks. MacArthur joined General Walton “Johnnie” Walker to celebrate the capture of the North Korean capital. Credit 22
Hoping to hear how the war would end, Truman undertook the seven-thousand-mile journey to Wake Island to meet MacArthur. Omar Bradley traveled with the president and renewed his acquaintance with the general. Credit 23
The fateful meeting on October 15 began with a private session, where each man took the measure of the other. Credit 24
The conference facilities on Wake Island were spartan. Credit 25
Vernice Anderson (center) recorded the discussions at Wake Island. She would become the most famous stenographer in America, to MacArthur’s embarrassment. Credit 26
Truman was tempted to tell MacArthur to straighten up in the presence of the commander in chief, but with victory seemingly near, he held his tongue. Credit 27
MacArthur’s offensive continued, and in November U.S. troops reached the Chinese border. Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff worried that China would be provoked by the proximity of the Americans, but MacArthur again ignored the naysaying. Credit 28
Suddenly the Chinese entered the war in daunting strength. U.S. troops retreated through the frozen mountains. Credit 29
Though U.S. tanks briefly held their ground here, MacArthur’s forces were thrown back across the 38th parallel. Credit 30
MacArthur’s increasingly public dissatisfaction with the restraints on his war effort eventually caused Truman to relieve him. Army Secretary Frank Pace, here with MacArthur in Tokyo, was supposed to deliver the news in person, but fear of a news leak prompted Truman to fire MacArthur via a White House statement. Credit 31
General Matthew Ridgway (right) did get the news from Frank Pace (far left). Ridgway succeeded to MacArthur’s command. Credit 32
On his return to America, with wife Jean and son Arthur, MacArthur was hailed as a hero. He concluded he might become president. Credit 33
He held forth at length at Senate hearings, at which he was treated with pomp and deference. He never understood how the hearings proved his undoing. Credit 34
Truman had the last laugh. Credit 35