Truman+vs.+MacArthur


 * The following speeches were given in the wake of the removal of General Douglas MacArthur. A heated public debate centered itself on the dismissal of the very popular World War II hero. **

==**Harry S. Truman, Speech Explaining the Firing of MacArthur, April 13, 1951: __http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=860__ **==

The question we have had to face is whether the Communist plan of conquest can be stopped without general war. Our Government and other countries associated with us in the United Nations believe that the best chance of stopping it without general war is to meet the attack in Korea and defeat it there.

That is what we have been doing. It is a difficult and bitter task. But so far it has been successful…

So far, by fighting a limited war in Korea, we have prevented aggression from succeeding, and bringing on a general war. And the ability of the whole free world to resist Communist aggression has been greatly improved.

We have taught the enemy a lesson. He has found out that aggression is not cheap or easy. Moreover, men all over the world who want to remain free have been given new courage and new hope. They know now that the champions of freedom can stand up and fight and that they will stand up and fight…

We do not want to see the conflict in Korea extended. We are trying to prevent a world war—not to start one. The best way to do that is to make it plain that we and the other free countries will continue to resist the attack.

But you may ask, why can’t we take other steps to punish the aggressor? Why don’t we bomb...China itself? Why don’t we assist Chinese Nationalist troops to land on the mainland of China?

If we were to do these things we would be running a very grave risk of starting a general war. If that were to happen, we would have brought about the exact situation we are trying to prevent.

If we were to do these things, we would become entangled in a vast conflict on the continent of Asia and our task would become immeasurably more difficult all over the world.

What would suit the ambitions of the Kremlin [in other words, the Soviet Union] better than for our military forces to be committed to a full-scale war with Red China? […]

I believe that we must try to limit the war in Korea for these vital reasons: to make sure that the precious lives of our fighting men are not wasted; to see that the security of our country and the free world is not jeopardized; and to prevent a third world war.

A number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did not agree with that policy. I have therefore considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy.

It was with the deepest personal regret that I found myself compelled to take this action. General MacArthur is one of our greatest military commanders. But the cause of world peace is more important than any individual.

The change in commands in the Far East means no change whatever in the policy of the United States. We will carry on the fight in Korea with vigor and determination in an effort to bring the war to a speedy and successful conclusion.

===**General Douglas MacArthur Defends His Conduct in the War in Korea, April 19, 1951: __http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=715__ **===

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">If a potential enemy can divide his strength on two fronts, it is for us to counter his efforts. The Communist threat is a global one. Its successful advance in one sector threatens the destruction of every other sector. You cannot appease or otherwise surrender to communism in Asia without simultaneously undermining our efforts to halt its advance in Europe....

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">While I was not consulted prior to the President’s decision to intervene in support of the Republic of Korea, that decision, from a military standpoint, proved a sound one. As I say, it proved a sound one, as we hurled back the invader and decimated his forces. Our victory was complete, and our objectives within reach, when Red China intervened with numerically superior ground forces.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">This created a new war and an entirely new situation, a situation not contemplated when our forces were committed against the North Korean invaders; a situation which called for new decisions in the diplomatic sphere to permit the realistic adjustment of military strategy. Such decisions have not been forthcoming.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">While no man in his right mind would advocate sending our ground forces into continental China, and such was never given a thought, the new situation did urgently demand a drastic revision of strategic planning if our political aim was to defeat this new enemy as we had defeated the old.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Apart from the military need, as I saw it, to neutralize the sanctuary protection given the enemy north of the Yalu, I felt that military necessity in the conduct of the war made necessary — <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">(1) The intensification of our economic blockade against China. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">(2) The imposition of a naval blockade against the China coast. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">(3) Removal of restrictions on air reconnaissance of China’s coastal area and of Manchuria. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">(4) Removal of restrictions on the forces of the republic of China on Formosa, with logistical support to contribute to their effective operations against the Chinese mainland.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">For entertaining these views, all professionally designed to support our forces committed to Korea and to bring hostilities to an end with the least possible delay and at a saving of countless American and Allied lives, I have been severely criticized in lay circles, principally abroad, despite my understanding that from a military standpoint the above views have been fully shared in the past by practically every military leader concerned with the Korean campaign, including our own Joint Chiefs of Staff....

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">There are some who for varying reasons would appease Red China. They are blind to history’s clear lesson, for history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means, where appeasement had led to more than a sham peace.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only alternative. Why, my soldiers asked of me, surrender military advantages to an enemy in the field? I could not answer.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Some may say to avoid spread of the conflict into an all-out war with China. Others, to avoid Soviet intervention. Neither explanation seems valid, for China is already engaging with the maximum power it can commit, and the Soviet will not necessarily mesh its actions with our moves. Like a cobra, any new enemy will more likely strike whenever it feels that the relativity in military or other potential is in its favor on a worldwide basis.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The tragedy of Korea is further heightened by the fact that its military action is confined to its territorial limits. It condemns that nation, which it is our purpose to save, to suffer the devastating impact of full naval and air bombardment while the enemy’s sanctuaries are fully protected from such attack and devastation....

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Of the nations of the world, Korea alone, up to now, is the sole one which has risked its all against communism. The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description. They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery. Their last words to me were: //"Don’t scuttle the Pacific."//

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">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.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">It was my constant effort to preserve them and end this savage conflict honorably and with the least loss of time and a minimum sacrifice of life. Its growing bloodshed has caused me the deepest anguish and anxiety. Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">I am closing my fifty-two 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.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">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 most proudly that old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-by.