Филиппинское чудовище высадилось

[lafeber]

Одиннадцатого апреля 1951 Трумэн уволил Макартура. Популярный генерал вернулся в Штаты, где его встречали восторженные толпы поклонников. Рейтинг президента нырнул к 23. Сотрудники Белого дома справедливо опасались, что им всем сейчас прилетит от негодующего американского народа, и мрачно шутили на эту тему в своих застенках. Вот текст шутливого расписания, которое циркулировало среди вашингтонских чиновников в те дни. Твитера у этих острословов тогда не было. Видимо, использовали мимеограф и подкладывали копии на столы друг к другу.

«Расписание праздничного приема генерала Макартура»

12:30 Wades ashore from Snorkel Submarine
12:31 Navy band plays “Sparrow in the Treetop” and “I’ll be glad When you are dead you Rascal you”
12:40 Parade to the Capitol with General MacArthur riding an elephant
12:47 Beheading of General Vaughan [Truman’s military aide] at the rotunda
1:00 General MacArthur addresses members of Congress
1:30-1:49 Applause for General MacArthur
1:50 Burning of Constitution
1:55 Lynching of Secretary Acheson
2:00 21-atomic bomb salute
2:30 Nude D.A.R.s leap from Washington Monument
3:00 Basket lunch, Monument grounds.

P.S. D.A.R.s – это члены организации «Дочери американской революции»

Comments

[tijd]

Макартур дождался и парада (хотя и без слона), и выступления в Конгрессе.

"In war there is no substitute for victory.
There are some who, for varying reasons, would appease Red China. They are blind to history's clear lesson, for history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means, where appeasement has led to more than a sham peace. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only other alternative.
"Why," my soldiers asked of me, "surrender military advantages to an enemy in the field?" I could not answer.
Some may say: to avoid spread of the conflict into an all-out war with China; others, to avoid Soviet intervention. Neither explanation seems valid, for China is already engaging with the maximum power it can commit, and the Soviet will not necessarily mesh its actions with our moves. Like a cobra, any new enemy will more likely strike whenever it feels that the relativity in military or other potential is in its favor on a world-wide basis.
The tragedy of Korea is further heightened by the fact that its military action is confined to its territorial limits. It condemns that nation, which it is our purpose to save, to suffer the devastating impact of full naval and air bombardment while the enemy's sanctuaries are fully protected from such attack and devastation.
Of the nations of the world, Korea alone, up to now, is the sole one which has risked its all against communism. The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description.
They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery."
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurfarewelladdress.htm

Но его показания на слушаниях в Сенате закончились провалом. Другие генералы с цифрами на руках показали, что Трумэн принял правильное решение, потому что ресурсов для большой войны с Китаем не было.

After he returned to the United States and delivered his "farewell address" to a tumultuous joint meeting of Congress on April 19, MacArthur rode in a massive parade from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Two days later, millions turned out to receive the general in a ticker-tape parade in New York City.
Against this backdrop, Senator Russell, as chairman of the joint hearings, conducted the proceedings with great deliberation, providing for a full exchange of views. Realizing that the testimony would include highly sensitive war-related testimony, but also aware of the value of making these discussions quickly available to avoid trouble-causing leaks, Russell arranged a compromise. The joint committee would conduct the sessions in secret, but would release sanitized transcripts every 30 minutes to reporters crowded outside the Caucus Room's heavily guarded doors.
In three days of testimony, which began on May 3, 1951, MacArthur weakened his own case with vague and overstated responses. He observed that his troubles came from the politicians in Washington who had introduced "a new concept into military operations—the concept of appeasement." When MacArthur was asked whether he thought his plan for bombing China might trigger another world war, he observed that this was not his area of responsibility. His case was fatally weakened with testimony from senior military leaders who strongly disagreed with MacArthur's plan. After seven weeks of exhaustive testimony, the public lost interest. By fully airing this dangerous issue, Chairman Russell avoided a political conflagration and brilliantly demonstrated the Senate's proverbial role as the saucer into which the hot tea is poured to be safely cooled.
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Constitutional_Crisis_Averted.htm

“For the past seven weeks the Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations have assiduously examined into the facts and circumstances bearing on the relief of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and on American policy in the Far East,” the committee statement declared. Significantly, this was the sole mention of MacArthur’s name, and the statement said nothing more about his firing. It acknowledged differences of opinion among the witnesses and among the examiners, yet it hailed these differences as a sign of strength rather than weakness. It assured America’s allies that the country’s commitment to freedom hadn’t wavered. And it warned enemies not to misunderstand the workings of democracy. “The issues which might divide our people are far transcended by the things which unite them. If threatened danger becomes war, the aggressor would find at one stroke arrayed against him the united energies, the united resources, and the united devotion of all the American people.”
The statement was silent, of course, on the secret testimony of Marshall, Bradley, Vandenberg and Collins. MacArthur thereby escaped the injury the testimony would have done his reputation, but the secrets badly eroded his support among those who should have been loudest on his behalf. Alexander Wiley, Styles Bridges and the other Republicans were compelled by the revelations about America’s vulnerability to rethink their endorsement of MacArthur and the belligerent course he favored. They didn’t recant in public; they wouldn’t give Truman that satisfaction. But they no longer looked to MacArthur as a credible alternative to Truman on military strategy or in politics. They eased away from the general, and because the testimony was sealed, they never said why.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/redacted-testimony-fully-explains-why-general-macarthur-was-fired-180960622/

[lafeber]

>> Alexander Wiley, Styles Bridges and the other Republicans were compelled by the revelations about America’s vulnerability to rethink their endorsement of MacArthur and the belligerent course he favored. They didn’t recant in public;

Историк H.W.Brands пишет, что этот момент мало-кто понимает или осознает. Для многих загадкой остается, почему Макартур был такой популярный в апреле 1951, но все про него забыли месяц спустя. Сенаторов убедил Белый дом, а до простой публики засекреченная информация со слушаний не дошла. Его книга называется "General vs. the President".

Другой историк добавляет, что простая публика переключилась на другие дела ближе к летним отпускам и забыла про своего любимого генерала. Также помогло то, что слушания вели (допрашивали) 26 умеренных республиканцев-сенаторов, не самые ярые.