UN commander who conceived the Inchon landing and overruled the unanimous opposition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"There is no substitute for victory": farewell address to Congress, 19 April 1951.
Douglas MacArthur was an American five-star general who led the Allied forces to victory in the Pacific War and governed occupied Japan as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Appointed commander of UN forces after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, he conceived and drove through the Inchon landing against the unanimous opposition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reversing the course of the war. When China entered the war, MacArthur pressed for an expanded campaign including bombing Manchuria, clashing openly with the Truman administration and leading to his dramatic dismissal in April 1951. His removal remains the Cold War's sharpest constitutional confrontation over civilian control of the military.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1930–1935Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
- 1935–1941Field Marshal and Military Advisor, Philippine Army
- 1941–1945Commander, U.S. Army Forces Far East / Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area
- 1945–1951Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Japan
- 1950–1951Commander, United Nations Command, Korean War
- 1952–1964Chairman, Remington Rand
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Pacific WarAllied commander in the Southwest PacificAs Supreme Commander in the Southwest Pacific, he led Allied forces to victory in the Pacific War.
- 1950–1953The Korean WarUN commander who conceived and pushed through the Inchon landingAs UN commander, he conceived the Inchon landing, overruled the Joint Chiefs’ unanimous opposition, and forced the operation through, turning the tide of the war.
The 1951 Relief and the Civilian-Control Controversy
On 11 April 1951 President Truman relieved MacArthur of all his commands in a public statement and ordered him to hand them over to Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway. The White House explained that MacArthur was "unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations," adding that while vigorous debate on national policy is vital to the constitutional system, military commanders must be governed by "the policies and directives issued to them in the manner provided by our laws and Constitution." At a White House meeting on 6 April, Harriman emphatically favoured relief while Bradley opposed it and Marshall asked for more time; Acheson privately favoured it but warned Truman it would be "the biggest fight of your administration." On 8 April the Joint Chiefs held that relief was desirable from a military point of view but that military considerations were not paramount, worrying that otherwise "a large segment of our people would charge that civil authorities no longer controlled the military." The next day Truman wrote in his diary that it was the unanimous opinion that MacArthur be relieved.
The immediate trigger was public contradiction of policy. MacArthur called the restrictions on operations beyond the Yalu "an enormous handicap, unprecedented in military history" on 1 December 1950 and repeated similar remarks on 13 February and 7 March 1951 despite a 6 December directive requiring clearance. On 23 March he issued a communiqué offering a ceasefire to China and warning that expanding operations would put it at risk of "imminent military collapse"; Truman felt it pre-empted his own proposal. On 5 April a letter of 20 March was read in the House, arguing that Asia was where the communist assault would be decided and that "there is no substitute for victory." The grounds remain disputed: the Joint Chiefs found "little evidence that General MacArthur had ever failed to carry out a direct order" and held that he "had stretched but not legally violated any JCS directives." Truman claimed insubordination publicly only from 1956, and a 1973 magazine article quoted him saying he fired MacArthur because "he wouldn't respect the authority of the President."
The shock was considerable. The Japanese Diet passed a resolution of gratitude, and Emperor Hirohito visited MacArthur at the embassy, reportedly the first such visit by a Japanese emperor to a foreigner with no standing. In the United States Senator Robert Taft called for Truman's impeachment and some newspapers and Republican whip Kenneth Wherry attributed the relief to British pressure. Secretary of the Army Frank Pace was to notify MacArthur personally but a signals failure in Korea prevented it, so in Tokyo the news was first heard on commercial radio. The joint Senate inquiry of May and June concluded that the removal was "within the constitutional powers of the President but the circumstances were a shock to national pride." The episode became a standing precedent on restraining political statements by officers, and assessments of its circumstances and wisdom remain divided.