Lord Russell Sees MacArthur Dismissal as “Act of Courage” [1951]

Russell’s statement was solicited by his American literary agent, Julie Medlock, acting as executive director of her small non-profit foundation, Public Interest International. MacArthur’s support for a more aggressive Korean strategy had endeared him to right-wing Republicans, who reacted angrily to his dismissal with Senator McCarthy, for example, theatrically demanding Truman’s impeachment. A quite unprecedented civil-military confrontation had been brewing long before the President relieved the general of his Far Eastern commands on 11 April 1951. Relations between the two men had been tense at least since November 1950, when the administration unequivocally rejected MacArthur’s call for the bombing of Chinese military bases in Manchuria and the deployment of Guomindang troops from Formosa. The dismissal of MacArthur has brought a sigh of relief to the whole non-Communist world, outside the United States, and at the same time a profound feeling of admiration for the courage of President Truman.