WHITE HOUSE'S FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE SHOWN AGAIN BY TRUMAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R000300580007-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 7, 2013
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 25, 1951
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

'STAT
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25 hay 1951
JAY' FRANKLIN SAYS:
:White House's Foot-in-Mouth
.Disease Shown Again by Truman
President Truman's press-conference confession that he had
been trying to get rid of 'MacArthur for a year before the supreme
commander at Tokyo was given the yo-heave-ho is a striking symp-
toln of the old White house foot-in-mouth disease.
The president's purpose was, no doubt, to come to the rescue
If White House, defense ond_Glate de-
partment. security Is so, poor that the
1resldentcannot he sure of controlling
his own administrative _anhouncements,
then wli havy_ _ a u'e been stiending m11-
lons of__dollars on the Secret Se_vlcel,
- and oii_eiuboretc
Cen91tgfntci 6-ace
ftt hy'n ychecks of govern-
ment-personaell it is hard'to Imagine
lwiy greater pglltlcal damage could
have been caused- by a leak than was
actually caused by the hasty midnight
removal of a general whose past sere
Ices alone entitled him .lb courtesy and',
respect.
But the most damnging_ admission
remains that Mr. Truman had. been
trying for nearly,a year to get'rid
of MacArthur.
This suggests that he and his mill-,
tary advisers ace not on the level in'
accusing MacArthur of having done1
the wrong thing In proposing a truce(
but that his truce proposals; 'like the l
Veterans of Foreign Wars message and'{
the'letter to Rep. Martin of Massachu-
setts, were seized on as the protest to {
justify an (action which had Already l
been decided on by those who 'Were ad-I
mittedly following a course 'in Asia'
that ran. cqunter. to the. ez&'erfanced i
recommendatlons of men ? llke General!
Wedemeyer and General MacArthur. I
mnyed the Japanese whom .MacArthur
had brought into a remarkable rela-
tionship of friendship and respect. The
political debits involved were much
more Important than the, political fuss
? here at home. The future political
orientation of the billion human beings
In Eastern Asia is nota negligible
con- sideration and It is that which state
depnrtment policy has placed In jeop-
ardy.
ANOTIIF.R ANGLE In Mr. Truman's
confession Is that announcement of
MacArthur's dismissal was speeded tip
tify nhout. the conndenuat wnue house
confnhs that preceded the MacArthur
ouster had caused minor brain storms
on Capitol Hill. Whatever Mr. Tru-
man's purpose, his remarks add to the
unitizing confusion created by tho whole
tepisode.
w
WHAT'' Jib' SAID was to the effect
that, even before-the North Korean at-
tnck on June 25, 1950, he had been
looking around for ways and means to
depose the man who had done' such n
remarkable job of reconciliation in
Japan. He hadn't liked MacArthur's
message about Formosa to the Veterans
of Foreign Wars last. summer but the
thing that really burned hint up was
MacArthur's proposal of a military
truce in Korea. early this year. This
annoyed our UN associates no end. The
president called it on ultimatum, but
that is merely 'a slip of the tongue.
The general says it was the third time
he had ands truce proposals to the
Communist gelterals and that nobody
complained Gout the other two times.
'Mr. 't' ?,n did not exactly help
Srerrlr.? ?d State Acheson by re-
westing that. our ersatz Anthony Eden
bad opposed the dismissal on the
ground thnl. it would create a fuss.
The fuss uras obvious but the real
reason for going slow In this matter
was fho political eIcct;In.Akt~n,,.oJ,tho
peremptory removal of MacArthur
front Japan.
The dismissal dellght.edthe Commun-
Isis. It encouraged the Red Chinese to
keop on flgMirig. It nlnrmed the South
Korcans:who, with us, are doing most
of the fighting Jn Korea. And it dis.