Douglas MacArthur’s Speech On April 19, 1951 To A Joint Session Of Congress After Truman Relieved Him Of Command In Korea

Since Douglas MacArthur finished a very respectable #14 in the Conservative bloggers list of The Greatest Figures Of The 20th Century, I thought it might be a good time to post his famous speech from 1951.

Truman had relieved MacArthur of command in Korea 8 days earlier for “openly challenging the U.S. civilian leadership by threatening to attack China”. While Truman had little choice but to fire MacArthur, getting rid of a living legend like MacArthur and deciding not to fight to win in Korea helped cost the Democrats the election in 1952 when Eisenhower crushed Adlai Stevenson 442 electoral votes to 89 electoral votes.

MacArthur reeled off some famous lines in this speech including…

“In war there is no substitute for victory” & “(O)ld soldiers never die; they just fade away.” Enjoy the speech! (Cont)

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