The Democrats are touting Obama’s firing of Gen. McChrystal as a ‘MacArthur Moment.’ Comparing the firing of McChrystal to the firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur constitutes a monumental insult to the legacy of Harry Truman!
McChrystal was a tiny blip on the radar screen of popular opinion. MacArthur, a five-star general, was as popular as Gen. Eisenhower, if not more so. MacArthur led the U.S. forces back to victory in the Pacific during WWII and presided over the surrender of Japan on the Battleship Missouri.
MacArthur commanded the U.N. forces during the Korean War. A brilliant offensive drove the Korean communist forces north. But when the U.S. army captured the North Korean city of Pyonyang and the war looked like it was about to end, the Chinese army crossed the Yalu River with overwhelming numbers and drove the U.N. forces back down to the 38th parallel.
During the stalemate at the 38th parallel, the Chinese indicated they were willing to negotiate an end to the conflict. When the U.S. and the U.N. agreed to the negotiations, MacArthur wrote letters to Congress opposing any peace negotiations and publicly dared China to continue the war. In effect, MacArthur single-handedly derailed any chances for peace.
On April 11, 1951, Truman fired MacArthur for insubordination. It was a very unpopular move and it took an awful lot of guts for Truman to fire such a popular military figure. The audacity of the Democrats to call McChrystal’s firing a ‘MacArthur Moment’ is not only a monumental insult to Harry Truman, but it's also simply preposterous.
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