Douglas MacArthur: Farewell Address to Congress

On April 19, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur delivered an unprecedented “farewell address” to a joint session of Congress (not to be confused with his farewell address at the West Point military academy in 1962). The purpose of the nationally televised speech was to justify his conduct as commander of the American-led coalition of UN forces that was still fighting Communist North Korea, with the aid of its Chinese Communist allies, in the Korean War.

MacArthur had enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Army. He had served as supreme Allied commander in the Pacific during World War II, and at war’s end he had presided over the surrender of the Japanese. In the years following the war, he was supreme commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, helping that devastated nation rebuild, forge a democratic government, and grow into a leading industrial power. In the late 1940s he seemed to be in the twilight of his career, but in June 1950 war erupted when Communist North Korea invaded the democratic Republic of Korea (South Korea). MacArthur was given one more chance to exhibit the heroism he had shown for decades by leading a daring amphibious assault behind North Korean lines at the Port of Inchon in September 1950, snatching victory out of the jaws of apparent defeat. Seoul, in South Korea, was liberated from the Communists two weeks later.

MacArthur, however, may have miscalculated, for he led his forces too close to the Chinese border. The Chinese, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, regarded this act as provocative and entered the war on the side of the North Koreans. In this context, MacArthur started to bicker publically with his commander in chief, President Harry S. Truman, over conduct of the war, particularly Truman’s “limited war” strategy. Truman and his military advisers came to see MacArthur as increasingly insubordinate, and some characterized MacArthur as a warmonger. Their disagreements culminated on April 11, 1951, when Truman relieved MacArthur of command. The result was a firestorm of controversy, for MacArthur was highly popular with the American public; some even believed that he could have made a successful run for the presidency in 1952. MacArthur returned to the United States, where he took a victory tour and was greeted as a hero. The tour ended in Washington, D.C., where he delivered his farewell address.