America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom by William J. Bennett

Author:William J. Bennett [Bennett, William J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2008-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

The imperious MacArthur wanted to threaten the Chinese with the atomic bomb if they did not agree to negotiate a peace in Korea. General MacArthur then committed the act that led to his summary dismissal. He released a “military appraisal” that explained why he had to carry the war to the North. He went further, writing to the Republican leader in the House of Representatives to show why his, MacArthur’s, view, and not Truman’s, was the correct one. “There is no substitute for victory,” was MacArthur’s ringing declaration.

Truman immediately fired MacArthur. It did not matter to many that Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall and Army Chief of Staff Omar Bradley—also five-star generals—recommended this course of action for rank insubordination. Truman had to endure a firestorm of protest and abuse. California Senator Richard Nixon called for MacArthur’s immediate reinstatement, and Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, a notorious boozer, accused the commander in chief of sacking MacArthur while he, Truman, was drunk!109

McCarthy had gained sudden prominence the year before when he told a Republican audience in Wheeling,West Virginia: “I have in my hand [a list of] . . . cases of individuals who would appear to be either card-carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist party” in the State Department.110 The exact number McCarthy used remains controversial to this day. Thus was born “McCarthyism.”McCarthy addressed a real problem: disloyal elements within the U.S. government. But his approach to this real problem was to cause untold grief to the country he claimed to love.

Apparently, no one at the GOP meeting thought to call McCarthy’s bluff by yelling out: “Read the names.”

“Old soldiers never die,” General MacArthur told a joint meeting of Congress; “they just fade away.” It was an emotional moment. American soldiers were dying in frigid Korea. One of our greatest generals told us that the president and his team were not trying to win. And some strident voices were saying that that was because they didn’t want to win, that they were influenced by Soviet agents. Small wonder that Truman’s approval rating sank to an historic low of 23 percent!

Yet, we now can tell that it is precisely in such moments that a president’s strength of character is tested. However brilliant and insightful MacArthur was, this country can never tolerate a military commander going over the head of the civilian authority. George Washington wouldn’t do that. George McClellan didn’t do that. It can never be allowed.

Fortunately for the country in this desperate hour, a number of leading Republicans, including Governors Thomas E. Dewey and Harold Stassen and Senators Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and John Foster Dulles, boldly spoke up in support of the president’s right as commander in chief to give orders to his military subordinates.111 Once again, Thomas Dewey put principle above narrow partisanship.

Also critical to consider is how important the patriotic stance of Walter White and the NAACP leadership was at this critical juncture. Had there been any crack in national unity along a racial fault line, America’s military position might have become untenable.

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