April 11 in American History
President Truman relieved the enormously popular General Douglas MacArthur of command for publicly defying administration policy on the Korean War. It was a firestorm — but Truman was defending a bedrock principle: elected civilians, not generals, set military policy. "I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President."
In 1951: Truman fires General MacArthur. President Truman relieved the enormously popular General Douglas MacArthur of command for publicly defying administration policy on the Korean War.
President Truman relieved the enormously popular General Douglas MacArthur of command for publicly defying administration policy on the Korean War. It was a firestorm — but Truman was defending a bedrock principle: elected civilians, not generals, set military policy. "I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President."
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