{"product_id":"9780253000187","title":"Truman and MacArthur: Policy, Politics, and the Hunger for Honor and Renown","description":"\u003cp\u003eTruman and MacArthur offers an objective and comprehensive account of the\u003cbr\u003e very public confrontation between a sitting president and a well-known general over\u003cbr\u003e the military's role in the conduct of foreign policy. In November 1950, with the\u003cbr\u003e army of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea mostly destroyed, Chinese military\u003cbr\u003e forces crossed the Yalu River. They routed the combined United Nations forces and\u003cbr\u003e pushed them on a long retreat down the Korean peninsula. Hoping to strike a decisive\u003cbr\u003e blow that would collapse the Chinese communist regime in Beijing, General Douglas\u003cbr\u003e MacArthur, the commander of the Far East Theater, pressed the administration of\u003cbr\u003e President Harry S. Truman for authorization to launch an invasion of China across\u003cbr\u003e the Taiwan straits. Truman refused; MacArthur began to argue his case in the press,\u003cbr\u003e a challenge to the tradition of civilian control of the military. He moved his\u003cbr\u003e protest into the partisan political arena by supporting the Republican opposition to\u003cbr\u003e Truman in Congress. This violated the President's fundamental tenet that war and\u003cbr\u003e warriors should be kept separate from politicians and electioneering. On April 11,\u003cbr\u003e 1951 he finally removed MacArthur from command.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eViewing these\u003cbr\u003e events through the eyes of the participants, this book explores partisan politics in\u003cbr\u003e Washington and addresses the issues of the political power of military officers in\u003cbr\u003e an administration too weak to carry national policy on its own accord. It also\u003cbr\u003e discusses America's relations with European allies and its position toward Formosa\u003cbr\u003e (Taiwan), the long-standing root of the dispute between Truman and\u003cbr\u003e MacArthur.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47120362438896,"sku":"9780253000187","price":25.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780253000187","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}