MaggieMae
Reality bits
- Apr 3, 2009
- 24,043
- 1,635
- 48
Generals vs. presidents
Gen. Stanley McChrystal and President Obama may not see eye-to-eye on Afghanistan. Is that unusual?
Can generals openly defy presidents?
Not if the general wants to keep his job. American history is replete with examples of presidents dismissing military leaders whose loyalty or obedience came into question. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln sacked George McClellan after the Union Army commander continually refused Lincoln’s entreaties that he attack Confederate forces. When Lt. Gen. Nelson A. Miles disagreed with William McKinley over how to wage the Spanish-American War, Miles was packed off to a minor skirmish in Puerto Rico. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson forced out Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay because he criticized the White House for not carpet-bombing North Vietnamese cities. The best-known general-president showdown was probably between Harry Truman and Gen. Douglas Mac*Arthur over the Korean War.
What was the core of their disagreement?
Truman was determined to confine hostilities to the Korean peninsula, fearing that if he broadened the conflict, the Soviet Union might enter the fray, raising the specter of nuclear war. MacArthur, however, wanted to deal with the communist menace directly by attacking China, which had poured troops into Korea. He publicly assailed the White House for being too timid—in effect, challenging Truman’s backbone and patriotism. Declaring that “there is no substitute for victory,” MacArthur said that Truman’s refusal to expand the war into China imposed “an enormous handicap, without precedent in military history.” When the general then threatened Beijing with “imminent military collapse,” Truman was furious. On April 11, 1951, he fired MacArthur.
Ramainder HERE
Rules of fair use prohibit you from posting material in its entirety.
~Dude
Gen. Stanley McChrystal and President Obama may not see eye-to-eye on Afghanistan. Is that unusual?
Can generals openly defy presidents?
Not if the general wants to keep his job. American history is replete with examples of presidents dismissing military leaders whose loyalty or obedience came into question. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln sacked George McClellan after the Union Army commander continually refused Lincoln’s entreaties that he attack Confederate forces. When Lt. Gen. Nelson A. Miles disagreed with William McKinley over how to wage the Spanish-American War, Miles was packed off to a minor skirmish in Puerto Rico. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson forced out Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay because he criticized the White House for not carpet-bombing North Vietnamese cities. The best-known general-president showdown was probably between Harry Truman and Gen. Douglas Mac*Arthur over the Korean War.
What was the core of their disagreement?
Truman was determined to confine hostilities to the Korean peninsula, fearing that if he broadened the conflict, the Soviet Union might enter the fray, raising the specter of nuclear war. MacArthur, however, wanted to deal with the communist menace directly by attacking China, which had poured troops into Korea. He publicly assailed the White House for being too timid—in effect, challenging Truman’s backbone and patriotism. Declaring that “there is no substitute for victory,” MacArthur said that Truman’s refusal to expand the war into China imposed “an enormous handicap, without precedent in military history.” When the general then threatened Beijing with “imminent military collapse,” Truman was furious. On April 11, 1951, he fired MacArthur.
Ramainder HERE
Rules of fair use prohibit you from posting material in its entirety.
~Dude
