The Sacking of
MacArthur
Learning Objectives:
1. To understand the dispute within the UNC over what
tactics to use.
2. To understand why General MacArthur was sacked as
UNC Commander.
Key Figures
1. President Harry S. Truman
President of the USA, 1945 – 1953
2. General Douglas MacArthur
Overall commander of all of the UNC
soldiers in Korea. This included US, British
and South Korean soldiers. Truman was
his boss.
3. General Matthew Ridgway
Commander of the US soldiers in Korea.
MacArthur was his boss.
The War by Late 1950
• By late 1950 the war had
reached a stalemate.
• The Chinese attack had been
halted by the UNC.
• However the Chinese had
vastly more soldiers.
• Defeating them would prove
to be difficult but not
impossible.
• The UNC therefore had a
tough decision to make…they
had four main options.
Task 1:
Read through the four options. Work with a
partner. Discuss the positives and negatives
of each option. You then need to decide
which option would be best for the UNC. Be
ready to give detailed feedback.
Option 1:
Seek an immediate peace deal. Keep
South Korea as capitalist and North
Korea as communist.
Option 2:
Fight a war of attrition. Don’t try to
take much land but try to kill as many
Chinese as possible whilst keeping UNC
losses low.
Option 3:
Plan an invasion just of North Korea so
that all of Korea will be capitalist.
Option 4:
Wage total war against China. This will
involve attacking China itself.
UNC Tactics
• General MacArthur wanted to expand the
war.
• He favoured an attack on China itself.
• However President Truman was very
cautious.
• He was worried that an attack on China
would cause the USSR to join the fighting.
• This could then lead to World War III.
• Even if the USSR didn’t get involved, the USA
would still have to send more soldiers and
equipment to Korea.
• This would cost a huge amount of money.
• Truman therefore decided to fight a limited
war.
• The aim would be to make sure that South
Korea did not become communist.
• This was known as containment.
Key Term:
A limited war is when the total
defeat of the enemy is not the
aim. Instead smaller targets are
set like taking a particular bit of
land.
War of Attrition
• The commander of the US soldiers in Korea
was General Ridgway.
• He only commanded US soldiers whereas
MacArthur was in charge of the whole UNC.
• Ridgway agreed with Truman.
• He decided to fight a war of attrition from
autumn 1950 onwards.
• The aim of this was to kill as many Chinese
soldiers as possible in Korea but without
heavy UNC losses.
• The aim was to slowly push the Chinese back
but not to advance into North Korea itself.
• It was hoped that this would wear the
Chinese down so that they would want to
negotiate a peace deal.
War of Attrition
• Ridgway’s plans worked well.
• US soldiers would target a particular area
of the Chinese front line.
• They would attack in large numbers and
with much firepower.
• However they wouldn’t aim to take much
land, just kill communists.
• The Chinese became cautious and would
withdraw rather than risk massive battles.
• As a result the UNC slowly began to take
back ground including Seoul, the capital
of South Korea which the Chinese had
captured.
• In total around 53,000 communists died
compared to 20,000 UNC soldiers.
MacArthur
• Despite the UNC success, MacArthur was not happy with
Ridgway’s tactics.
• He wanted a much bigger war and total victory.
• Korea wasn’t enough. He wanted to make sure that China
was ‘not a threat to peace in Asia for generations to
come.’
• He wanted air and sea attacks on China’s factories.
• He also wanted to block ships from reaching China.
• He even proposed land attacks on the Chinese mainland.
• The further north the UNC soldiers advanced, the more
MacArthur wanted to push for a total victory.
• However President Truman believed Ridgway was right
and MacArthur was risking what could be a disastrous
world war.
MacArthur is Sacked
• Truman decided to continue with attrition
tactics in the hope that the communists
would be forced to come to peace talks.
• MacArthur publically disagreed in March
1951.
• He issued a public statement saying that a
bigger war would cause communism to
collapse in China.
• He also wrote a letter criticising the
president’s strategy.
• Truman had to take action as MacArthur
was defying official decisions.
• Therefore on 14th April 1951 MacArthur was
sacked as UNC commander.
‘Time and again General
MacArthur had shown that he
was unwilling to accept the
policies of the Administration.
By his repeated public
statements he was…setting his
policy against the President’s.’
Key facts – what you need to know…
The sacking of General MacArthur
• By the end of 1950 The Korean War was back where it all
started close to the 38th Parallel.
• The United Nations Command (UNC) led by General
MacArthur faced a large North Korean Communist army
reinforced by Chinese soldiers.
• The American President Harry S Truman decided that a war
of containment was the best strategy to keep the Communist
North at bay and save the South.
• General MacArthur publically disagreed and argued that a
risky total war with China and North Korea was needed with
all out attacks on them.
• Truman was cautious and feared that this could start WW3,
he had little choice in April 1951 but to sack MacArthur.
Source Time
‘There developed, over a period of months, a basic disagreement between General
MacArthur on the one hand and the President and our European allies on the other
as to how the war in Korea should be conducted; and, more importantly, a
disagreement as to how, and where, the forces of the free world should be deployed
to meet the threat of world Communism. General MacArthur was sent certain
instructions, and he ignored or failed to obey them. Those orders, wise or foolish,
came from his superiors. We as private citizens are entitled to agree or disagree
with the policy and the orders, but so far as military men are concerned, the
Constitution is quite specific. It doesn't say that a President must be a Republican or
a Democrat, or even that he must be wise. It says that he is the commander-inchief.’
Edward Murrow in a radio broadcast on 11th April 1951. Murrow was an American
reporter who had become very well known for his radio reports on WWII. He was
listened to by millions of people.
How useful is this source to a historian studying the sacking of
MacArthur?
Debate
• Remember why the USA got involved in the Korean
War.
• To stop the spread of communism and make sure
countries were capitalist.
• So: Was Truman right to sack MacArthur?
Task: Write a paragraph explaining whether Truman was right to sack
MacArthur. A good answer will include balance by looking at both sides of the
argument before reaching a judgement.